High-Rise (2015)

A polarizing movie, so I am told! The best I can say, is that it surely sparked an interest in getting the book and read how this intriguing premise was built upon in the written word. Nearly every review I read praising the movie actually quoted the opening of the book, and the dry, almost casual mention of the quite disturbing meal - which is replicated here in the movie in a way more sardonic, a bit cheeky, every bit as sharp. The movie does start out strong, and introduces characters different but equally relatable. As the minutes went by, I was thinking that the whole metaphorical subtext was a bit getting hammered in, but even as the class warfare was getting polarized to the point of caricature, the characters and their dynamics were still enough grounded, complex and believable that the idea of a strong allegorical frame was not unappealing, as it seemed a perfectly acceptable way to construct a unifying narration.

Well, the movie lost me. If was not gradual, but it was not something happening over a single episode. The decay of the building here is really quick, and so is the quality and appeal of its metaphor. What seemed to be a well polished and well constructed multileveled creation, turned out to be just a pile of filth, where dog eats dog, or man eats dog. It sounds naive and silly to come up with statements like "It is not realistic!", while, I get it, it is not meant to be. It'd be the same as asking "But why is it that they don't leave that crazy place." And still, it is part of the problem. The movie does seem intent in what is little more than a morbid contemplation of primal state. But what's the interest in that sort of chaos, grotesque, bleak and intrinsically, uh, well, chaotic? If the stylized and distinctly unsubtle display of depravity was meant to make a statement about human nature or capitalistic society, I have to say that nothing in the visual or in the narration, with virtually every individual story tossed together in a protoplasm of human stains with no real character, nothing at all, left a lasting impression or even was remotely interesting.

Sammo ★