Goin’ Up?

While understandably, it is the likes of the British film directors of Danny Boyle, Christopher Nolan and Ridley Scott that take up the lime-light in the media aspect of things, it would be criminal to not forget the lesser-known British directors who create pieces of art in their own image that are worth taking a look at. One director, in particular, that fits this model of thinking is Ben Wheatley who has been responsible for making such works as Sightseers (2012) and A Field in England (2013). Through watching his older-recent works, one of the tropes that Wheatley tends to favour contextually is making a film that underneath the surface adopts dark themes in circumstances that can either be looked in a political or social manner (Sightseers being the perfect example of this). With Wheatley’s latest filmic piece High-Rise, based on J.G.Ballard’s 1975 novel of the same name, it’s not only a pristine and archaic film that offers up contextual themes that are seen through the characters and mise en scene on display, but it’s a staple cinematic piece that outlines this continuation of Wheatley implementing and blending dark humour with a deep satire of the British class system.

Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise takes place in London, 1975, where Dr. Robert Laing (Tom Hiddlestone) is seduced and swayed by the lifestyle of the high-rise, an isolated community, in which the residence of this tower block are cut off from the rest of society along with it’s creator, the architect Anthony Royal (Jeremy Irons). Taking up living on the 25th floor, Laing, day-by-day, discovers that within the tower block, lies complex loyalties, and strikes up a relationship with Royals devoted aide Charlotte (Sienna Miller). After Laing befriends Richard Wilder (Luke Evans), a family man/ documentary film-maker who takes residence on the 2nd floor and is determined to break down the class injustice that is upheld in the high-rise, a dangerous social situation develops as civilisation within the high-rise fragments into violent tribes, where only one social group can survive, and stand on top…

Being that I was lucky enough to see an advanced viewing of Ben Wheatley’s High-Rise at the HOME theatre house in Manchester, my opinion of this film may indeed change if/when I see this film again when it’s released generally to everyone. But, what I can say now, is that High-Rise is one of the more intersting films I’ve seen so far this year and will be a piece of artistic work that you’ll happily think about after watching it due to it’s melding of social themes and this blend of old and new cinematic tropes. While I will go onto talk about the star-studded cast with Tom Hiddlestone, Sienna Miller, Luke Evans and Jeremy Irons who all contributed to this films impact and psychological and social motifs, It’s pertinent that we firstly discuss Wheatley’s implementation of the Mise en scene and how the setting of the tower-block metaphorically is perceived as a character; a ‘character’ that changes as the narrative progresses. Visually nodding to old cinematic classics in Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange and The Shining, Wheatley in pristine quality inserts the literary and artistic device of Pathetic Fallacy. For those who don’t know the term, Pathetic Fallacy is a personification where the attribution of human feelings and responses are given to inanimate things/objects or animals. A common example of this would be using specific weather features to reflect a certain mood or feeling. In the case of High-Rise, Wheatley implements the Pathetic Fallacy between the individual characters and the tower-block setting; adding on to this ever-present psychological disruption within the narrative and the characters and they react to the changing of scenarios. It’s a surreal atmosphere, almost hallmarking back to how Kubrick manipulated the narrative space but also implementing Burton without the extreme and bold designs; it’s idyllic arrangements certify this ounce of dread and claustrophobia. In saying this, it really isn’t a film that you can only watch once. With the amount of varied production design that goes on within this film, High-Rise pulls you in with it’s symbolism within the spaces and walls and makes you miss every bits of detail, which is a good thing…

As stated in the plot summary, for the majority of the film, High-Rise mainly centralises it’s themes and some-what complicated turn of events around Tom Hiddlestone’s character of Dr. Robert Laing as he navigates the buildings social jungle. Potentially seen as a ‘Alice’ type of character who enters into deranged and out-of-control version of wonderland, Hiddlestone in the right ways portrays a self-aware observer; being a friendly face to the pompous yet grotesque snobberies at the top and the working class scroungers who are unearthed to be primal in the ‘worst’ situations. While he is seen as an observer of the story, often heard speaking over in third person about the experiences in the high-rise, what I liked about Hiddlestones’ performance with Laing is his subtle transformation and other quirks of the character. Hiddlestone is unsettling in his self-sufficiency as Laing, relying on nobody and while we mainly see through his character to get a glimpse of his perspective of what’s going on, he’s also a character that is consumed by the social hate that unearth’s within the block which in return, allows us an the audience to ‘roam free’ with the multitude of characters there are and what there endeavours are like once everything in the narrative starts going down hill. In saying this then, while I will go as far as saying that this is one of the better Hiddlestone performances in any film he’s done alongside perhaps his role as Loki in the Marvel films, one performance that caught the eye as far as ‘taking over’ the plot of the film is Luke Evans’ character of Richard Wilder, a volatile spokesman for the lower-class who is not only determined to expose the violence through his documentary means, but he’s a character that symbolises this stigma within the tower block; how he’s very much a victim of being mistreated in the tower block when everything is sane, but can be easily complex when everything starts to fall down the piping order. Winking back to themes of survival in tales such as Robinson Crusoe and more specifically with Battle Royale, it is Wilder, not Laing who ascends to the top to solve the quarrel and the way Evans’ character quickly switches into a more disturbing individual when everything spirals out of control, is entertaining to witness. He’s got the most developed and complex contradictions of the ensemble; a fighter and an artist whilst also being a violator and a lover. Sienna Miller and Elisabeth Moss are tender highlights of the supporting cast and add to the films socio-political messages while Jeremy Irons as the architect brings his reliable theatrics on screen when necessary.

Now I’m not going to delve into the themes and motifs of High-Rise too much considering the fact that I’ve hinted at a few of the films motifs already and if you’ve seen either of the two trailers for this film already, you’ll get a general idea of what this film likes to conjure up within the boundaries of society and reality. One of the main ideas that I got from watching this film was this polarisation of freedom and contradiction and this is evident by looking through the character of Laing. At first, he’s an self-aware individual looking for a better place after a tragic event and states how the high-rise is essentially freedom; “ready to move and explore life” as he quotes earlier on in the film. Evidently however, he’s constricted by the complexities of this social-jungle which in turn, makes him a ‘Alice’ figure within this archaic wonderland, as stated before. What I though was intersting to see was the development of the classes when everything goes out of control. While the high-class revel in keeping order and control, they are eventually left in a situation where they vulnerable and morph completely by the time the film ends. The psychological roles reverse as well, as mentioned before, even though Laing at the start is self-contained, overtime he’s consumed to the needs of the building. This is also the same for Wilder as he starts as an abusive misogynistic character you love to hate at first, but his determination for answers is seen as admirable. While Wheatley could have easily made High-Rise a film purely fixates on the themes from the original source, it was refreshing to see Wheatley introduce a bit of dark satire into the fray; using his comical experiences from his past films. The subtle comedic moments just show that High-Rise doesn’t take itself too seriously with the contextual material it has on offer and it adds another dimension to the viewing experience.

Wheatley’s ultra-violent adaptation of High-Rise for sure ticks all the boxes in creating an atmosphere which leaves you tense and really think about the motifs and symbolism this film has to offer. It’s definitely a film that lingers in your mind after watching it and while it’s an adaptation of a book that was written a fair while ago, it’s a film that really fits in place in this present time and batten off the over dystopian/thriller films in this era. It’s certainly a film to admire and consider over the course of this year of Wheatley pristinely uses the narrative space in a disturbing yet claustrophobic manner, yet adds his dark humour into a film that doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is refreshing to see in this say and age…

And on that note, it’s time to end. As always, thank you for reading my latest film review of High-Rise and I hope you’ve enjoyed the read. If anyone has an opinion on either the review or on the film, then feel free to drop a comment down below. While I did get lucky in watching this though-provoking film, I really do implore you all to go watch the film when it gets released, I have a feeling that it will be one of the better films to come out this year. Like always, I will be back next week with another review and I hope to see you all there. Until then, Adieu!!

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ – Alex Rabbitte