Review of High Life (2018) by Keithdow — 24 Apr 2019

Claire Denis' 'High Life' is undoubtedly better on paper than it is on the screen. One has to assume that the script includes certain details like what "The Box" is, or clarify the discrepancy between the fates of the astronaut's bodies early on versus what we're shown throughout the movie.

Despite the film's limited dialogue, many of the lines feel bizarrely stilted, as if there was a problem in the French-to-English translation regarding the emotional meaning of what Denis was hoping to convey.

As a result, Denis has ultimately made a film that is just interesting enough to keep the audience's attention the entire time, but lackluster enough for them to never really care. Worse, the last twenty minutes are so packed with logical flaws that 'High Life' crashes into its final destination rather than ending on anything that resembles a high note, sadly wasting another superb performance by Robert Pattinson whose time and effort could have been better spent on something else.