High-Rise

Movie Name: High-Rise
Year of Release: 2015
Director: Ben Wheatley
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Jeremy Irons, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, Elisabeth Moss, James Purefoy, Keeley Hawes, Peter Ferdinando, Sienna Guillory, Reece Shearsmith, Enzo Cilenti, Stacy Martin, Tony Way, Bill Paterson, Neil Maskell, Alexandra Weaver, Louis Suc
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
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Synopsis and Review:

The prolific Ben Wheatley tackled this adaptation of the J.G. Ballard book, which had been in development for quite some time, after making a name for himself with the films "Sight Seers" and "A Field in England". The film, which takes place in the 70s, focuses on the story of Dr. Robert Laing, whom we are firstly introduced to as he's moving into a modern and slickly designed towering building, designed by the reclusive Anthony Royal. The building is fairly self sufficient, containing a gym, supermarket, a pool and even a primary school. It's also organized by somewhat of a class system, with the more affluent individuals on the top floors, and the more modest families on the bottom. As Robert gets to know other people in the building, he strikes an amorous relationship with a single mother by the name of Charlotte, while striking a friendship with documentary film maker Richard and his wife, Helen, who is pregnant. As Laing meets Royal in one of his parties, he also starts noticing there is a distinct class clash occurring in the building. Also the building itself, has operational issues, with garbage disposal that doesn't work. As tensions start to increase, and more intimate relationships between some of the tenants are revealed, Laing's grip on reality also starts to fade. 

Interestingly enough, J. G. Ballard has had two great films adapted from his books, the first being Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun", and secondly David Cronenberg's "Crash". "High Rise" at times almost shares some storytelling DNA in its adaptation, but unlike Cronenberg's view of the novel, this film fails to commit to what is actually trying to suggest. Cronenberg smartly distilled the essence of the novel and added his own point of view to it, particularly when it comes to the understanding of bodies, sexuality and ever changing nature of humans. Ben Wheatley manages to start the narrative quite strongly, setting up the characters and the environment, but as the cracks in that utopian building start to emerge, and the clash between classes and personalities erupts, the film somehow loses its bite and conviction. Just as the lead character somehow loses grip on sanity and himself, so does the film lose momentum to go all in, failing to depict not only the crumble of the frail social dynamics of the building, but also the relationships that exist between the characters. Casting wise, the film features a great performance from the always superb Jeremy Irons, with solid contributions from the underrated Luke Evans, Elisabeth Moss, James Purefoy and Peter Ferdinando. The cinematography from Laurie Rose is excellent, as is the production design from Mark Tildesley and score from the fantastic Clint Mansell. While not a terrible film, it's somewhat of a missed opportunity with all this talent available.