High Life

Claire Denis' "High Life," about a group of prisoners being used as guinea pigs in a deep space mission, is tailor-made for viewers who like science fiction in a cryptic 1970s art-house mode, and don't care if the movie is of-the-period ("The Man Who Fell to Earth," "Alien," "Silent Running") or consciously aping it ("Under the Skin," "Ex Machina," "Annihilation") as long as it delivers the goods by challenging the audience. There are no laser shootouts, lightsabers, spaceship battles, or talks of imperial succession here—just long, often eerily quiet scenes of adults being adults, in a futuristic environment that turns every situation into a metaphor and every metaphor into a situation.ADVERTISEMENTThe film is another milestone in the career of its director/co-writer, whose filmography (which includes "Beau Travail," "The Intruder," "35 Shots of Rum" and "Trouble Every Day") is rife with powerfully visceral tales of forbidden love and exotic locales. And it's yet another feather in the cap of its star, Robert Pattinson, who has become one of the most reliably intense yet unaffected leading men in cinema—and who, with his former costar Kristen Stewart, is helping to keep a particular kind of auteur-driven, middle-budget art house film alive, at a time when 40 percent of yearly North American box office receipts come from family-targeted Disney properties.The story begins pretty far along in the life of its main character, Pattinson's Monte, a convict turned astronaut. He's first seen living alone on the aforementioned deep space vessel, a dark and messy place plagued by technical problems, taking care of a little girl named Willow (Scarlett Lindsay). As is often her m.o., Denis keeps her narrative cards close to her vest, observing Monte and Willow with such a potent mix of detachment and fascination that this prologue begins to feel like a documentary that has somehow time-warped in from the future.This section of "High Life" also offers one of the clearest demonstrations yet of Pattinson's sneaky star power. The directness of Denis' images is disarming: we could just as easily be watching surveillance footage of a single dad caring for a toddler in a dilapidated and otherwise empty public housing project. Ignoring the showbiz maxim warning actors never to share the screen with a dog or a child, Pattinson bonds with the audience by treating every moment between Monte and Willow as a record of simple actions: a feeding, a bedtime routine, a grown man attempting to dissuade a child from crying for the sake of his own mental health, and most affectingly, an attempt to enjoy "quality time" while doing a job that can't be put off until later (specifically, repairing the exterior of the spacecraft while talking to Willow via video link).ADVERTISEMENTIn due time, Denis and her cowriters Jean-Pol Fargeau (a regular collaborator) and Geoff Cox fill in the circumstances that led to this dire predicament. Lars Eidinger is the mission’s captain, who seems to have no authority whatsoever. The true commander of the mission seems to be Dr. Dibs (Juliette Binoche), who performs experiments on herself and the others. "Suspiria" costar Mia Goth plays the edgiest crew member, Jessie Ross a more optimistic counterpart. André Benjamin, otherwise known as André 3000 of Outkast, is Tcherny, who left his family behind on earth and now tends to the ship's greenhouse.And it's in the greenhouse that a film set in the weightless reaches of space finds a dramatic center of gravity. "High Life" takes its sweet time drinking in the ship's plant life (shades of special effects-master-turned-director Douglas Trumbull's 1972 eco-thriller "Silent Running," an obvious reference point). These images of fecundity, of pistils and stamens, haunt the remainder of the story. Like so much else in this symbol-attuned film, they are plain, organic objects that are just what they appear to be (plants that supply the ship's crew with food and oxygen) and, at the same time, emblems of fertility, in a movie that's obsessed with sex, reproduction, parenting, and the perpetuation of humankind.By fragmenting the narrative and moving around through time, as Denis loves to do, "High Life" becomes a kaleidoscopic experience, more so than a traditional story. The filmmaker immediately establishes that something happened to the crew, then tells us what it was, but doesn't fill in the blanks on exactly how it all happened until she's good and ready. This is an alternately disturbing, intellectually stimulating, scary, erotic, and revolting collection of moments that you're supposed to watch, listen and react to, not necessarily process as one might a traditional linear narrative, or some kind of cinematic equation that can be unlocked like the final level of a videogame.ADVERTISEMENTAny film that takes a somewhat realistic view of space travel is bound to get compared to "2001: A Space Odyssey," but this one deserves it. It makes the ship feel as tactile as the interior of a submarine, or a prison. Atmosphere and sensation are everything. The sound of a character's breathing, footsteps or muttered curses can be as meaningful as any expository line of dialogue (of which there are surprisingly few until Binoche's spacey-scary Dr. Dibs starts monologuing).What does it all mean? I have a take but would rather not share it here, in a review that's trying to convey the spirit of an elliptical and mysterious film without revealing all of its surprises and puzzlements. Suffice to say that it's the kind of movie that's direct enough in its imagery to make you feel as if you're just visiting a place that exists, yet expansive enough in its poetic and narrative aspirations to make room for a spacewalk, a daringly extended sequence of a crew-member riding a sex machine, several idealistic conversations about science and survival, a psychedelic mission to a black hole, and a final act that's at once inspirational and unbearably sad.It's the kind of film that sparks arguments on the way home, not just about what happened and what it meant, but whether it was a good movie—and if not, precisely which expectations it failed to satisfy, and whether it ever intended to satisfy them. With its brutal violence, explicit sex, and up-close views of blood, sweat, urine, and semen, it is proudly an R-rated film, verging on NC-17—though the X-rating, which was discontinued by the MPAA almost 30 years ago, might feel more appropriate. Everything about this movie is retro, from the opaque yet fully felt performances (led by Pattinson) that make the audience come to the actors rather than the other way around, to Stuart Staples' analog synthesizer-heavy soundtrack, to the closing credits song by Tindersticks featuring none other than Pattinson, whose vocals suggest what Chris Isaak might sound like if he lost his will to live.If you've read this far, you know whether this is your kind of movie. If you think it is, it is—and then some.

I LOVE good science fiction, especially the kind that goes outside the box, like "2001 A Space Odyssey," a true classic in its artsy, cerebral approach. "High Life" tries SOOO HARD to be that kind of movie, and the production is awesome, but its writing is flawed at its core, from the start. It was that horrible kind of movie that takes itself so seriously that I have to watch it to the end to see where it is going, only to realize it's not going anywhere and I wasted an hour and half of my life believing a false promise. I should have known better.I'll start with the pros since that's a much shorter list. The cinematography has a few moments of brilliance and irony. A few. It has more moments of unintended absurdity, like the lighting on the spacecraft exterior that looks more like a contemporary living room and does not occur elsewhere. Binoche is as always endearing - in her acting, not her character, who is anything but endearing. She is a true witch here, a testament to her skill. I was embarrassed for her that her bucking bronco sex machine (literally, a masturbation machine she sits on) went on so long and tried so hard to be artsy. Pattinson is convincing but achieves it with that overdone posing that worked well for him in teen-targeted "Twilight," not so well here. The rest of the characters were shallow and wooden.The brooding, slow, oh-so-meaningful pace initially yields some suspense that quickly turns into impatience. The spacecraft has NO sound, total silence inside, no whirring or buzzing or beeps, that makes it feel like a Broadway stage. There is the occasional nod to real science when the spacecraft approaches light speed and the stars appear to all move to the direction of travel. I would have liked some other cool and unexpected stuff to occur, but no. And very briefly when one of the characters drops into a black hole feet first, you see her feet stretch away from her as the gravity gradient increases violently, but the camera quickly returns to her bruised, bloody and completely unstretched face, since gross out is so much more important in this movie than science.Good science fiction is based on good science - a fascinating and convincing premise that makes you go "wow!" - and then proceeds to blow your mind with twists that follow logically from this premise. There is no cool sciencey premise here, only a bunch of mentally unstable characters stuck in a space ship. It could as easily be a prison or an island.It is easy for me to believe that the story was written around scenes, not a plot. We need some really graphic violence here, then a long sullen scene that seems to have some deep meaning but doesn't, leading into total gross out scene with lots of white sperm, shiny blood, and god knows what other bodily fluids. Oh, and don't forget a healthy dose of profanity. We need shock. Come to think of it, let's have a graphic rape scene with dim blue lighting, lots of screams and outrage. What? It's not believable? Don't worry about it, the audience will love it.Wait, I got an idea - let's have Binoche rape Pattinson! Now that's original, a chick-rape! And they are so cute! Where can we throw that in? Plot be damned, full speed ahead. We'll make up for the complete lack of meaning and logical flow by making it so slow that viewers will figure it MUST have meaning, and give it an ending that makes no sense so they can supply their own.Why did I waste my time with this movie? Because of the amazing reviews. In particular, I have tremendous respect for, and a great track record with, Roger Ebert (God rest his soul) reviews which gave this movie 4 out of 4 stars. It was dead wrong. If you read it you won't find much substance, just unfocused praise. Roger, your people totally let you down. He would have hated this movie and said why much better than I.I wanted so badly to like this movie. There was nothing to like. There was hardly even anything to dislike. It is a vapid, empty shell of a movie with a spattering of gross-out sex and meaningless violence. Don't waste your time.

Es una excelente película, cine de arte de alto nivel con grandes actuaciones de Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, Mia Gothy la magistral dirección de Claire Denis.Contiene material especial extra.El producto me llegó bien y en la fecha indicada.

Película rara y poco conocida. Una joyita personal e independiente. Película del espacio muy diferente a todo lo demás. Pone de manifiesto, el lado más primitivo del ser humano y la esencia de las personas. También, trata el tema de la propia existencia y de la vida. No te deja indiferente, la disfrute muchísimo, una joyita. Tiene escenas que te impactan y además algunas con una carga erótica nunca vista. Buena película, algo pausada y tranquila pero muy buena, el papel de Patison le va como anillo al dedo.

Claire Denis in outer space. A true space oddity.

The photo shows a slipcover and when arrived it just came with the blu case

Pedí un cambio debido a que no venía con su slipcover así como en la foto se muestra pero me enviaron uno igual sin slipcover :( solo porque si quería la película no la volví a devolver.