High Art (1998)
Genre: Drama / Romance
Duration: 101 minuten
Country:
United States / Canada
Directed by: Lisa Cholodenko
Stars: Ally Sheedy, Radha Mitchell and Gabriel Mann
IMDb score:
6,6 (11.727)
Releasedate: 12 June 1998
High Art plot
"a story of ambition, sacrifice, seduction and other career moves."
Syd is a young, ambitious photo editor who has recently been promoted. Lucy is a photographer who has said goodbye to the world of editorial and commission photography. The reason was to stay away from ambitious people who interfere with the way she works. A leak in the ceiling brings both women together. For Lucy, it's a relief to meet someone outside of her drug-addicted circle of friends. For Syd, meeting the photographer is not only a business opportunity, she slowly but surely falls in love.
Actors and actresses
Syd
James
Lucy Berliner
Greta
Debby
Harry
Dominique
White Hawk
Arnie
Delia
Reviews & comments
blurp194
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- 5803 messages
- 4380 votes
Arthouse, and even more than that, a portrait of the art scene. Washed-up artists in search of creative inspiration, led astray by mind-altering substances, always with an excuse at hand as to why it didn't work out this time either. Very recognizable.
The brooding atmosphere is very well portrayed in the otherwise somewhat meandering story. Aimless, a slave to events—just as the central characters seem to be. Yet with a kind of inevitability in the outcome, a predetermination that seems inextricably linked to certain forms of high art. Fate does not play games.
Ally Sheedy and Radha Mitchell are perfectly cast, exactly in their place. Patricia Clarkson receives some criticism for overacting—unjustified, I think, because it fits exactly what so many people in art circles do. Such inflated personalities are quite common; that, too, is really very recognizable. As far as I'm concerned, it deserves kudos rather than criticism. If there is any reason for criticism at all, it is for Tammy Grimes' fake German accent—that does annoy me; it really should have been done better.
The story may be cliché, but clichés are shaped by reality. Predestination, perhaps. Or alternatively, the difference between high art and the harsh reality of society, the inability to find a place. Something for your own interpretation.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Robi
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- 2583 messages
- 2556 votes
The film barely gets off the ground right from the start. Halfway through, it turns out to be about a relationship between the downstairs and upstairs neighbors. But even then, everything remains distant, and you are left waiting for something to actually happen. Just before the end, there finally seems to be a hint of emotion, but then there is another plot twist and the whole thing collapses again. No, if you don't see this film, you aren't missing anything.
Translated from Dutch · View original
Collins
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- 7506 messages
- 4469 votes
About the (once) successful photographer Lucy Berliner (Ally Sheedy), her parasitic and despondent entourage, and the journalist Syd (Radha Mitchell) who tries to rope her in for a photoshoot for the magazine where she works. High Art is an intense and atmospheric drama that takes place primarily in small spaces. The camera focuses heavily on the characters, creating an intimacy that does not always feel pleasant. Rather, it feels stifling. The desire to distance myself was quite strong within me, but that wish was not honored by the camera.
The film revolves around the rapprochement between the two women and the bond that develops afterward. Both women are portrayed in a rather stylized manner and differ considerably from one another. Syd appears as a well-behaved young woman: insecure, somewhat shy, innocent, in a respectable relationship, and admiring towards photographer Lucy, who represents a completely different type. Lucy is pretentious, drug-addicted, lesbian, has a tendency toward self-destruction, and is a person who lives in an entourage of good-for-nothings who feed off her fame, her money, and her drugs—things that Lucy, fueled by the heroin haze, magnanimously allows. She leads an artificially maintained existence that creates the expectation of being blown up in a melodramatic manner at any moment.
It is interesting to witness the struggle of a once-successful photographer in an attempt to extricate herself from her stagnant existence and regain some of her dignity. It is Ally Sheedy who makes the film an impressive one. Sheedy sets the atmosphere. Every time she is on screen, tension, threat, and unease arise. Mitchell is mostly very sweet and serves as her plaything. High Art is a fine character study that impresses, disturbs, and oppresses. A fine film.
Translated from Dutch · View original
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