In 2016, director Ben Wheatley and screenwriter Amy Jump adapted J. G. Ballard‘s controversial novel High-Rise as a feature film.
This thriller stars Tom Hiddleston as a resident of a building that was meant to be self-sustaining for residents.
Everything the residents could possibly want is contained in one giant complex, but the class struggle within causes the residents to inevitably turn on each other.
High-Rise is slated to leave Netflix in the first week of August, and Watch With Us is sharing the reasons you should watch it before it exits.
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Tom Hiddleston Gives a Brilliantly Unhinged Performance
There aren’t any heroes to be found in High-Rise, but the central role of Dr. Robert Laing is played by Hiddleston. The flash-forward opening signals that things are going to end very badly for Robert, but that still doesn’t prepare the viewer for just how far he’ll fall.
Hiddleston plays Robert as a literal social climber, who attempts to rise above his station on the lower floor. When Robert is humiliated by the residents of the upper floor, the first cracks in his sanity begin to appear. Robert’s dark transformation doesn’t happen all at once, and he’s still capable of lucid thought regarding the devolving state of the building and the residents. However, Robert is just as trapped by the building as they are, and can’t bring himself to lead. The film needed a big performance from Hiddleston to pull off that story, and he delivered it.
The Supporting Cast Is Terrific
Wheatley surrounded Hiddleston with talented actors to bring the building’s other residents to life. Sienna Miller plays Robert’s lover, Charlotte Melville, while The Handmaid’s Tale star Elisabeth Moss portrays Helen Wilder, a married woman with whom Robert has an affair.
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Helen’s husband, Richard Wilder (Luke Evans), follows a similar path to Robert’s. Because Richard is mistreated by the upper-floor residents, he resolves to kill the building’s wealthiest resident and the man who helped build it, Anthony Royal (Jeremy Irons). Although Irons has a naturally menacing persona, he’s not necessarily the villain.
This isn’t really a clear-cut story of heroes and bad guys. Instead, Royal is a true believer in the building’s merits, even despite its rapid downfall into chaos. Irons’ presence in the film elevates the story and gives him the chance to add layers to Royal.
‘High-Rise’ Is a Dystopian Class Struggle That’s Still Relevant
Although High-Rise ostensibly takes place in 1975, it soon becomes clear that the film is set in its own world rather than ours. There are too many off-the-wall moments for this movie to stand as an actual representation of society as it was in the ’70s. Instead, it’s more of an allegory for the divide between the rich and the poorer residents in the building.
A handful of critics noted that High-Rise shares a handful of themes with the dystopian thriller Snowpiercer, but it’s not an exact parallel with that 2013 film. That movie offered some hope for humanity even in the face of ecological disaster. High-Rise doesn’t have any uplifting message to go out on. But it is fascinating to watch the residents of this building destroy everything it was meant to represent about the future.
High-Rise is streaming on Netflix until August 6.
