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: The Lost City of Z

"I Know This Is A Sacrifice For All Of Us But It Will Be Worth It..."

At the prestigious age of the mid 40's, director James Gray is ashamedly a director of whose previous work I have to admit hasn't drifted across my attentive senses, with 2008's Two Lovers and 2013's The Immigrant arguably being his most critically acclaimed releases but too films which both seem to have suffered from a limited exposure platform, something of which cannot be said for The Lost City of Z, Gray's latest cinematic adventure based upon the book of the same name by author David Grann in 2009, which alongside featuring a cast including Sons of Anarchy star, Charlie Hunnam, Robert Pattinson, Sienna Miller and the latest incarnation of Peter Parker himself, Tom Holland, is most definitely his highest-profile release to date. Focusing on the true story of archaeologist and explorer, Percy Fawcett, The Lost City of Z is a mixed bag of a movie, a beautifully designed epic which spans from the beginning of the 20th century to the fallout of the Second World War but too a movie which suffers from a sagging narrative which seems to have conflicted notions regarding where exactly it wants to go and what it desires to be.

When it comes to the positives of Gray's latest adventure, there is no questioning the quality and detailed approach the filmmakers have taken in regards to set locations and design, with everything from the clothing attire to the stunning vast plains of the amazonian jungle being a superb feat, particularly upon the big screen. Unfortunately for the movie as an entire body of work however, the cinematography relies so heavily on the element of darkness throughout that sometimes it comes across as a monumental struggle to actually appreciate the lengths to which such the filmmakers have gone due in order to create such a thorough and finely tuned cinematic world. Perhaps the most telling weakness of the film however is the seriously unbalanced pacing, with the film taking almost an age to really get going and into the realm of something actually exciting, for it to then swiftly fall straight back into an element of tedium in a concluding act which doesn't exactly offer rousing levels of closure, begging the immortal question of, "what exactly was that all about?". If you decide that 140 minutes of scenery admiration is what you desire most about cinema, The Lost City of Z is arguably the film for you but for those who seek something of a narrative and sense of enjoyment, James Gray's latest is more of a miss than a direct hit.

Overall Score: 5/10