Film Review: High Life

"We Were Scum, Trash, Refuse That Didn’t Fit Into The System, Until Someone Had The Bright Idea Of Recycling Us To Serve Science..."

Moving into the world of English language movies for the first time at the fresh age of seventy three, French filmmaker, Claire Denis (Let the Sunshine In) and long-term collaborator, Jean-Pol Fargeau, bend the minds of audiences across the globe with High Life, a mesmerising, often beautiful, art-house influenced science fiction nightmare which mixes the psychological impact of isolation seen in the likes of Solaris and Moon, with a truly stunning design and technical nuance, one clearly influenced by the likes of Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and Nolan's own space travel masterpiece, Interstellar. Set, in true genre fashion, during a dystopian future world in which the Earth is seemingly struggling from a disturbing lack of resources, High Life follows, in nonlinear fashion, Robert Pattinson's (Twilight) Monte, a convicted murderer who along with other troubled felons, are sent out into the far reaches of space within the confines of a claustrophobic and self-sustaining spacecraft and towards a far-away black hole in order to attempt to examine and potentially extract the energy within in order to aid their fellow humans back on Earth.  

With the nonlinear fashion of the narrative allowing the tale to unravel through being watched rather than being explained, Denis' movie begins in an almost Silent Running esque manner, presenting Pattinson's shaved-headed convict all alone in space with the responsibility of not only maintaining his own life through the care of his spacecraft, one which includes a recycling based garden and a computer program which requires daily updates in order to prevent complete destruction, but of a young child too, one born of space and one whose parentage isn't entirely clear until the drama moves forward. With excellent supporting performances from the likes of previous Denis collaborator, Juliette Binoche (Ghost in the Shell) as a cracked scientist hell bent on perfecting the art of artificial insemination, and a rather placid, understated one from André Benjamin (Revolver) as a convict turned pacifist, High Life moves slowly but does so in a way to ensure that every detail has both meaning and impact, with particular set pieces bound to either make you look away in disgust or remain jaw-dropped at just how surreal the story ultimately plays out. With Pattinson once again proving how fine an actor he has become after choosing projects away from the limelight in the ilk of Cosmopolis and Good Time, Denis' first foray into the English language is by no means perfect, but boy is it utterly unforgettable.   

Overall Score: 8/10

Film Review: Ghost In The Shell

"Everyone Around Me, They Feel Connected To Something. Connected To Something I'm Not...!"

With the levels to which the hidden advertisement gurus have gone to in order to make sure this year's adaptation of Ghost In The Shell is popularly positioned within every cinema, street corner and television set, one of the main reliefs of finally sitting down and watching such is to be safe in the knowledge that never again will we see the propaganda-esque levels of publicity for Rupert Sanders' Americanised remake of the 1995 Japanese animation which in turn was based upon the famous manga series of the same name. Whilst the background to the development of the project was rife with controversy regarding the announcement of Scarlett Johansson in the leading role of a film which is primarily Japanese based, mirroring in an almost uncanny fashion to the awfulness which was The Great Wall, Ghost In The Shell fortunately is a solid enough by-the-numbers sci-fi flick which through a wide range of elements is strong enough to bypass the controversy surrounding its' leading star's heritage, yet still suffers from a wide range of issues which prevent it from being the culty spectacle it almost feels obliged to be.

Of the good elements of Ghost In The Shell, director Rupert Sanders has created a future world in which not only is highly plausible but beautifully admirable in its' construction. Think Blade Runner meets The Fifth Element with a hint of Minority Report and the surrounding boundaries of our heroine's setting is the grungy science fiction landscape which many films have attempted to utilise without a sense of physicality. Luckily for Ghost In The Shell, such physical spectacle is there to be admired, although one which is amongst a narrative which unfortunately isn't as groundbreaking as it thinks it is, with it taking plot threads and twisty turns into realms of extreme obviousness, particularly amongst science fiction fanatics like myself, whilst the real interesting notions, such as Scarlett Johansson's Major attempting to discover who she truly is in a Blade Runner-esque fashion, are left to one side in favour of various action set pieces. Having a soft spot for Peter Ferdinando, star of the Ben Wheatley directed A Field In England and High-Rise, his performance as the (SPOILERS AHEAD) villain-in-chief is passably fun, whilst Boardwalk Empire's Michael Putt is truly wasted as the cast-off cyborg thingy who speaks in a way which combines the weirdness of The Man From Another Place from Twin Peaks and Stephen Hawking. Solid and spectacular in places, Ghost In The Shell is the type of movie you can sense what the ultimate endgame of the narrative is a mile off but for a cheap Friday night blockbuster, it does the job suitably. 

Overall Score: 7/10