High-Rise (2015) - Wheatley gets lost in strange societal critique adaptation

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Glamorous stars assemble on this kaleidoscopic poster for Ben Wheatley's High-Rise

A new resident in a 1970s high-rise attempts to find his place in its closed, class-divided inner society.

 

High-Rise is written by Amy Jump (A Field in England (2013)), adapting High Rise (1975) by J.G. Ballard (The Burning World (1964)), and directed by great English filmmaker Ben Wheatley (Down Terrace (2009)).

The film feels like the fevered deliriums of a deranged Brit about 1970s class society and its people. The pace is strangely uneasy, rushed from the get-go, but this is no great narrative that sets an agenda. 

For periods the strange film is nightmarish, but more often it is just remote and unengaging as it tumbles along and feels oddly archaic, as if what 40 years ago was a terse work is now - here - for inscrutable reasons staged in its original 1970s period, but completely without context. The unreality is mixed with a feeling of pretentious indulgence, when the characters of the almost incomprehensible film continue to abide in violence and smoking in ridiculous numbers of shots. Not unlike the recent Filth (2013), High-Rise is a late adaptation of an English work of dark and acerbic grain, which loses millions as a commercial product in itself and is a solid bummer.

 

Related posts:

Ben Wheatley: 2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

A Field in England (2013) or, Shit and Thistles 

Top 10: Best drama-thrillers reviewed by Film Excess to date 
Kill List (2011) - Wheatley's jaw-breaking, great genre-mixer

 

Watch a  trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 6.1 mil. £, approximately 8 mil. $

Box office: 5.3 mil. $

= Huge flop (returned 0.66 times its cost)

[High-Rise premiered 13 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 119 minutes. Shooting took place from June - August (2014) in Northern Ireland, including in Belfast. The film opened #39 to a 79k $ first weekend in 79 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #37 and never grew in theater count, grossing 346k $ (6.5 % of the total gross). The film's biggest markets were the UK with 2.8 mil. $ (52.8 %), Portugal with 1 mil. $ (18.9 %) and Russia with 645k $ (12.2 %). Wheatley returned with Free Fire (2016). Tom Hiddleston (Thor: Ragnarok (2017)) returned in Crimson Peak (2015). High-Rise is fresh at 60 % with a 6.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of High-Rise?

God's Own Country (2017) - Lee's sensual sheep country romance debut

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The two stars relax close together on the grass in practical clothes on this hype-boosting poster for Francis Lee's God's Own Country

In the North-English countryside young Johnny lazily runs his father's sheep farm (including a few cows), while he drinks and fornicates aimlessly. Now the farm hires Romanian migrant worker Gheorghe, and life changes for Johnny.

 

God's Own Country is written and directed by debuting Francis Lee (The Farmer's Wife (2012, short)).

Very brazen and sensually focused on the bodies of the two men falling for each other and the nature that surrounds them, (although God's Own Country avoids explicit shots), the film warms up to an increasingly sweet romance, which is appealing and moving. The leads, Josh O'Connor (The Program (2015)) and Alec Secareanu (Thirty (2013, short)), have charisma and chemistry, and Johnny's parents are also well-acted (by Gemma Jones (You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (2010)) and Ian Hart (The Bridge (2014, TV-series))).

God's Own Country has a tenderness for the country and the labor involved in the farmwork and handling the animals, which also distinguishes this personal and authentic offering.

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 1 mil. £, approximately 1.41 mil. $

Box office: 2.5 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.77 times its cost)

[God's Own Country premiered 23 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 105 minutes. The script is partly based on Lee's own life, as he left the family farm to go to drama school. Shooting took place in West Yorkshire, England. It opened #57 to a 1k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it grossed 335k $ (13.4 % of the total gross). The film's biggest market was the UK where it grossed 1.1 mil. $ (44 %); North America was the 2nd biggest, and the Netherlands was 3rd biggest with 297k $ (11.9 %). It was not released in homophobic countries such as China, Russia, Malaysia, Arab countries and in Eastern Europe, apart from in Romania. The film won an award at the Berlin International Film Festival, 4/11 British Independent Film awards, an award at Sundance, and was nominated for a BAFTA, among other honors. Lee returned with Ammonite (2020). O'Connor returned in Boys on Film 18: Heroes (2018, segment) and theatrically in Only You (2018); Secareanu in 4 TV and short credits prior to his theatrical return in Amulet (2020). God's Own Country is certified fresh at 98 % with an 8.00/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of God's Own Country?

Under the Skin (2013) - Glazer's visually chilling, flawed art film

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+ Strangest Movie of the Year

 

An ethereal, appealing poster for Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin

A young, beautiful brunette drives through Scotland, seeking out man after man, whom she lures with her body to go with her and then lets drown in a mysterious tar-like substance. But a change is coming in the 'woman'.

Incredibly, watching Under the Skin, we are very fast convinced, without the use of any visual effects, that Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation (2003)) is not human here, simply through her unperson-like, empty portrayal and the chilly, observational photography by Daniel Landin (Sixty Six (2006)).
Under the Skin is the third feature from Londoner co-writer-director Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast (2000)), and it is a very strange art film with an oppressive sound universe and ditto score by Mica Levi (Jackie (2016)). The film's biggest strength is its images, which are pictorially beautiful and striking throughout. Unfortunately some shots are held for too long, and our attraction to the story becomes too vague. It gets boring. And the pace gives plenty of room for us to wonder whether the disfigured man in the film is really a disfigured man, (he is; Adam Pearson (The Ugly Face of Disability Hate Crime (2015, TV movie)) has neurofibromatosis, no prosthetics are involved); how Johansson was cast and so on, - which we don't have time to wonder about in a truly successful film.
Under the Skin is co-written with Walter Campbell and based on the same-titled 2000 novel by Michel Faber (The Book of Strange New Things (2014)). Particularly its ending does have something undeniably scary about it, and though not exactly good, it is certainly a highly unusual film.

Related posts:

2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2013 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

 

Watch the official trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 8 mil. £, equal to approximately 13.3 mil. $

Box office:  5.7 - 7.7 mil. $ (different reports)

= Mega-flop

[Under the Skin premiered August 29 (Telluride Film Festival, Colorado) and runs 108 minutes. Glazer wanted to adapt Faber's book after Sexy Beast but completed Birth (2004) first. Brad Pitt was supposed to be a male alien for a time, but development was slow, and the plot moved to center on just one alien, a female. Gemma Arterton was Glazer's choice for a time, but funding couldn't be attracted with her as lead. Filming took place in Scotland and England's Elstree Studios in and around October 2011 as a co-production of no less than 11 companies and institutions. Besides Johansson, most characters in the film are played by non-actors, including championship motorcycle road racer Jeremy McWilliams. The film opened #29 in 4 theaters to a 133k $ first weekend, peaking in 176 theaters at #16 in North America, where it grossed 2.6 mil. $ (45.6 % of the total gross, if going with the 5.7 mil. $ gross, which is what is reported to Box Office Mojo). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets of the just 13 international markets were the UK with 1.9 mil. $ (33.3 %) and France with 305k $ (5.4 %). The film was nominated for two BAFTAs and 4 British Independent Film Awards, among many other nominations and awards. Under the Skin is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Under the Skin?