High-Rise (2015)

Dir: Ben Wheatley

Dr. Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston CRIMSON PEAK) moves on up to a deluxe apartment in the sky. Not quite, he now resides on the twenty-fifth floor of a forty story high rise designed by Anthony Royal (Jeremy Irons DEAD RINGERS) to offer everything the tenants could possibly need or desire. There's a grocery shop, swimming pool, squash court and even a school for the littlest ones. Anthony lives on the top floor with his wife Ann (Keeley Hawes) who likes to ride her horse (!) around the lush grounds on the converted rooftop. Living directly beneath him are the toffee nosed with the poorest of the tenants living on the bottom floors. See where this is going?

Robert soon gets close to a number of his neighbours; Charlotte (Sienna Miller CAMILLE) the single mother who enjoys drinking, flirting and casual sex, Richard (Luke Evans DRACULA UNTOLD) who also enjoys drinking, flirting with Charlotte despite her lack of interest in him and ignoring his pregnant wife Helen (Elisabeth Moss TEMPTATION) and the building's architect himself, Anthony, much to the chagrin of those on equal social standing with Anthony.

To the mix of booze, drugs, sex and undercurrent of class warfare on the brink of breaking out is added a building that is deteriorating. Concerns about power outages, elevators not working, and clogged trash chutes are brushed aside by Anthony as 'growing pains' of a brand spanking new building. After all, it is the poors who suffer the brunt of the building's issues.

Robert is the viewer's guide on the building's path to self destruction. Being middle-class and 'knowing his place', he is able to move between the different social strata. Which is certainly favourable in telling the story. His help is required in the execution of Anthony's and his cronies' horrific plan to maintain order. He's there to listen to Richard's declaration to document the inhumanity perpetuated by the rich against the poor. He's there to comfort a distraught Helen. And we are there when he has his break from the world due to the pressure of the rat race.

Based on the 1975 novel of the same name written by J.G. Ballard, director Ben Wheatley brings to life the script by Amy Jump and immerses the viewer in the 1970's setting. The clothes, the furniture, the hair, the building and even the look of the film all scream 70's. I noticed a few references to films from that time,  A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and DON'T LOOK NOW being two of them.

The direction, acting, and costume design are all fine, even outstanding, but the film didn't click with me like other Wheatley films have. In between Robert's flashbacks / flash forwards / hallucinations, the alcohol fueled parties that pop up during blackouts, and the carnal excesses of the wealthy, Wheatly and Jump club us over the head repeatedly with undisguised social commentary. I'll admit to not understanding the humour of Wheatley's first feature film DOWN TERRACE and HIGH-RISE may be another example of the dry, acerbic wit going over my head.

HIGH-RISE is  remarkable in its style, but like the tenants of the new order, it lacks in the substance department. And that may be the point.

** 1/2 out of ****