High-Rise
Directed by Ben Wheatley
- drama
The story
Life for the residents of a tower block begins to run out of control.
What it’s like
Saturated, almost hallucinatory colour sits against brutalist concrete in this Ben Wheatley film: sickly ochre and burnt orange in the corridors, sterile white in the penthouse, and a grimy, sun-faded grey on the lower floors. Wide, symmetrical compositions frame the tower like a diorama, then the camera lurches into handheld chaos as order collapses. The score is a jittery, 1970s-style electronic pulse that swells and stutters, while the building's hum and clatter of lifts, power cuts and distant shouting fill the silences. Vibe: dark satire, sweaty and unsettling, with a gleeful mean streak. It suits a late-night watch when you want something provocative and not comforting. The pacing escalates steadily from polished dinner parties to feral disorder, and the central figures drift from fastidious detachment into animal abandon, a slow erosion of manners. Violence is frequent and sometimes bloody, with graphic moments of cruelty, a lot of sex and nudity, and a constant sense of unease rather than jump scares. This is for viewers who enjoy bleak class satire and stylised, confrontational filmmaking, not anyone seeking gentleness.
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