High Life

A24 | Release Date: April 5, 2019

6.3	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 149 Ratings

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User Reviews

User score By date Most helpful

ferrydustJul 3, 2019

Impressive waste of time. The concept and plot were interesting while the film was not at all; drawn out to agony, so miserably angsty all over.

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

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PetexianJul 14, 2019

Disappointing movie. I love science fiction movies and books. This one doesn’t make the cut. The premise was lame and the movie dragged along. I couldn’t wait for it to finish. .

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

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garretts228Aug 3, 2020

This movie is a lot like watching paint dry, but with a twist. The twist is feeling deranged and uneasy afterwards. I recommend the paint.

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

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CaptainHowdyApr 28, 2019

Very little happens in this movie, which is a misleading statement because several rather dramatic things happen. However, none of those events have any bearing on each other, and as soon as an event happens, it is forgotten. Taken as aVery little happens in this movie, which is a misleading statement because several rather dramatic things happen. However, none of those events have any bearing on each other, and as soon as an event happens, it is forgotten. Taken as a whole, the film just seems to be writer/director Claire Denis throwing anything even mildly interesting up on the screen with the hope that something will stick and make the film relevant. It ends up being a mishmash, and with so many competing ideas forbidding any of the others to be developed, the greater narrative becomes a non-entity. Add to that an ensemble of wholly unlikeable characters and an ending that just sort of suddenly happens without any warning, and this film just leaves you wondering why it took a whole two hours to let this non-story unfold.

One redeeming factor: It contains one of the most realistic depictions or near-light-speed travel I've seen committed to film.… Expand

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

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qbaseMay 5, 2019

Η ατμόσφαιρα προηγείται του –μάλλον προσχηματικού– δράματος, τα γκροτέσκα ξεσπάσματα είναι εντελώς αταίριαστα με το σιωπηλό, ονειρικό αφηγηματικό τέμπο και οι αναφορές στην εγγενή βία των ανθρώπινων σχέσεων προβλέψιμη ως τελικό συμπέρασμα.Η ατμόσφαιρα προηγείται του –μάλλον προσχηματικού– δράματος, τα γκροτέσκα ξεσπάσματα είναι εντελώς αταίριαστα με το σιωπηλό, ονειρικό αφηγηματικό τέμπο και οι αναφορές στην εγγενή βία των ανθρώπινων σχέσεων προβλέψιμη ως τελικό συμπέρασμα.

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

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GwzApr 9, 2019

I had quite high expectations on this one. Big disappointment. High life tries to tell a story about the human nature on a backdrop of an unforgiving universe but falls into a deep pit of pretentiousness and missed opportunities, a lot like aI had quite high expectations on this one. Big disappointment. High life tries to tell a story about the human nature on a backdrop of an unforgiving universe but falls into a deep pit of pretentiousness and missed opportunities, a lot like a black hole. Why the overly lo-tech, low-budget setting? With stars like Pattinson and Binoche they should at lest have the money to shoot it in something better than a high-school boiler-room? I've seen it all before, and done better. I can live with logic gaps or theater-like setting if the characters or story is compelling enough, but High Life just had... nothing. Want a movie about ennui in space? Se "Solaris" (the old one) or "Dark Star", they are so much better.… Expand

5 of 9 users found this helpful54

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SSRMay 19, 2019

Although the performances were great, I found the story rather dull and I didn't care for the characters.

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

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jondevrMay 7, 2019

Absolutely idiotic. A bunch of criminals given a chance to NOT do time in jail so they volunteer to be shut inside what looks like a huge cargo container and sent into a black hole? With no apparent way for information to be sent back toAbsolutely idiotic. A bunch of criminals given a chance to NOT do time in jail so they volunteer to be shut inside what looks like a huge cargo container and sent into a black hole? With no apparent way for information to be sent back to anyone? None of this movie makes a shred of sense and gives sci-fi a bad name the pursuit of some philosophical ( I think) point.… Expand

2 of 8 users found this helpful26

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PanchogulNov 28, 2019

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Concepto interesante, pero mal desarrollado, los personajes parecen muertos en vida y lucen completamente inexpresivos. Robert Pattinson pareciera estar haciendo un esfuerzo sobrehumano por no perder la cordura por aburrimiento aunque si se ve bastante bueno físicamente.

Juliette Binoche está como quiere, toda una milf, pero aquí parece una científica depravada abusadora sexual de niños de 5 años de edad y Mia Goth con una constante actitud de "me vale verga la vida". En fin, sabía que iba a ver un drama de ciencia ficción, pero esta película no me impresionó ni un poco, de hecho estoy escribiendo esto a 15 minutos de que termine, ningún momento emotivo ni de tensión, la carga emocional es mas plana que el culo de Madonna.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

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wealthychefJan 27, 2020

Tedious and slow. I have no idea how this movie ends because I gave up about 2/3 of the way through. It’s a series of drawn out moody scenes with equally moody and weird flashbacks to slowly piece through what’s actually happening. Hint:Tedious and slow. I have no idea how this movie ends because I gave up about 2/3 of the way through. It’s a series of drawn out moody scenes with equally moody and weird flashbacks to slowly piece through what’s actually happening. Hint: not much. And the characters are very hard to relate to. The dialog is uninteresting. Overall I’d say just pass.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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Mauro_LanariNov 23, 2020

(Mauro Lanari)
"Into this world we're thrown / Like a dog without a bone" (The Doors, "Riders on the Storm", 1971). Being thrown into the black hole of existence: the most treated topic in history and emphasized by Claire Denis with a crass(Mauro Lanari)
"Into this world we're thrown / Like a dog without a bone" (The Doors, "Riders on the Storm", 1971). Being thrown into the black hole of existence: the most treated topic in history and emphasized by Claire Denis with a crass anthropocentrism, avoiding almost any trace of pietas and drawing on the maximum of rhetoric (rarefied rhythm, decadent atmospheres, deafening silences, a couple of brutal scenes, disjointed narration).… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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WedhroMay 10, 2020

Once again, a movie about space which is not about space but instead about some convoluted metaphor for whatever else. If you've seen Solaris, Interstellar or Sunshine you know the drill, except this one seems to be made with a budget of aOnce again, a movie about space which is not about space but instead about some convoluted metaphor for whatever else. If you've seen Solaris, Interstellar or Sunshine you know the drill, except this one seems to be made with a budget of a few thousand bucks, the best acting comes from a little baby, the rhythm is non-existant, and the story makes no sense at all.

If you like long, and I mean looong shots of people doing nothing in a place that's supposed to be in space but could as well be anywhere else, be my guest.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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InkzillaNov 23, 2021

High Life features a somewhat interesting premise and is ultimately bogged down by many indie film clichés that unfortunately all work out in the worst possible way.

The most aggravating thing about the film by auteuresse Claire Denis is itsHigh Life features a somewhat interesting premise and is ultimately bogged down by many indie film clichés that unfortunately all work out in the worst possible way.

The most aggravating thing about the film by auteuresse Claire Denis is its sluggish pace, which shows in many different ways: Scenes continue for too long and are dragged out by drowsy, listless performances. Given, the sedation of the space ships inmates is a valid plot point that is addressed and in context makes some sense, but is it really worth it if that means that each scene feels like you are watching it in slow-motion? The pace is further disturbed and hindered by completely needless time-jumps, that add next to nothing to building tension or creating an intriguing narrative and instead make the film move even slower. One of the most painful scenes is happening about two thirds into the movie, when Juliette Binoche's wicked fertility doctor increases the sedative in the crew's water and the acting therefore becoming even more slurred and bored from there on.

The sound mix does not help as it decides to make the often mumbled, whispered lines often inaudible, even though there is barely a score to hide them behind. It is a very regrettable choice for what interesting bits High Life has to offer, they are almost entirely delivered in the odd, meaningful, ominous line here and there and very rarely presented visually.

Which introduces the next problem: The film is not a looker at all, which is a shame considering what other low-budget movies managed to get out of a sci-fi setting by actually using creativity and craftsmanship to counter the lack of grandiose CGI (e.g. Prospect) . But High Life features one of the least inspired and frankly ugliest set designs in the recent years, with a ship looking like a rusty Lego brick, suits that seem to have been fabricated by sewing rags together and sparse use of tech that looks like it was just ordered off Amazon for a few hundred bucks and thrown in the shot entirely without dressing up. Granted, the rag-tag ambience is a deliberate choice, but how unique and interesting are the gadgets that the inmates in the movie are clobbering together going to look, if everything else looks the same?

Apart from shortcomings stemming from the limited budget and the poor artistic choices, what eventually undoes High Life in its entirety is the nonsensical plot, that deals with prisoners being shot into space to somehow retrieve information on alternative energy sources from a black hole. How? We don't really get to know. Why these specific people? We don't get to know that either. And in combination with a ludicrous plot about artificial insemination that is forced upon the inmates by yet another inmate the film just crumbles apart. The power structure within the ship's crew makes no sense and should fall apart from the get-go. For unexplained reasons everybody maintains the cruel and absurd goings-on until the logical meltdown is somehow played as a cathartic happening.

The best thing about High Life are the performances by Binoche, whose disturbed and broken doctor persona keeps you interested as you never quite know how tight her power-grip is and how far she can and is willing to push her cruel experiments. Pattinson is solid, if a bit one-dimensional. The breakout performance is clearly delivered by Mia Goth who plays Boyse, a fretful but fierce wild-child who makes fickle alliances with different characters to benefit her goals that - besides her survival - are never fully formed.

In the end, High Life is utterly unenjoyable and never manages to lift the interesting premise above what it is - instead showing shortcomings on almost all levels, from narration to direction.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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