High Life
First screened in September 2018 / Most recently screened in April 2019
Director: Claire Denis. Cast: Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Jessie Ross, Mia Goth, André Benjamin, Agata Buzek, Ewan Mitchell, Lars Eidinger, Gloria Obianyo, Claire Tran, Victor Banerjee, Juliette Picollot. Screenplay: Claire Denis, Jean-Pol Fargeau, and Geoff Cox (with an assist from Nick Laird).

Twitter Capsule: Starts as a lament for the radically alone; grows into a weird, sad epic poem about trying and failing to stay isolated.

Second Capsule: Imagine Alien³ in a drifting orgone accumulator, more diffuse in its dangers and rewritten by a philosopher. Pattinson, Le Saux are MVPs.

Third Capsule: In case this matters for anyone, I think rumors of High Life's shocking content are inflated. Tough images and events, yes, but no abbatoir.

Fourth Capsule: A razor in a gyre in a void. An incarcerated Odyssey. A Pompidou of knotted tubes, heavy, light, flush with human lava.

VOR:   I'm split about how this movie completes some of its passes or fulfills its ideas but there's no question about its formal and thematic bravery.



Photo © 2018 Pandora Film Produktion/Alcatraz Films/
Andrew Lauren Productions/Apocalypse Film Company/Madants

Not yet reviewed in full. Grade: A–

(in September 2018: B+)


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