High Art is the cinematic debut of Lisa Cholodenko and it is an independent production. It was featured on the 1998 Sundance film festival and in fact, won the Waldo Walt Screenwriting award. The main characters are Syd, played by Radha Mitchell, and Lucy, played by Ally Sheedy. The movie has amassed generally positive reviews and has scored 72% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.6 on IMDB.
High Art revolves around a woman named Syd, short for Sydney, who is 24 and is extremely ambitious with her life already planned ahead by her. She is working, as an associate editor, in a very prestigious art magazine called Frame and she lives with her boyfriend James, with whom she has had a long-lasting relationship. Her normal life full of aspirations and frustrations, though, changes as long as her ceiling starts leaking and she visits the apartment above hers.
The owner of the apartment and the person who answers on the door is a woman called Lucy Berliner. Lucy is a very attractive, charming and mysterious woman, who spent her life as a distinguished photographer, but is bizarrely retired, only at the age of 40....
High Art is the cinematic debut of Lisa Cholodenko and it is an independent production. It was featured on the 1998 Sundance film festival and in fact, won the Waldo Walt Screenwriting award. The main characters are Syd, played by Radha Mitchell, and Lucy, played by Ally Sheedy. The movie has amassed generally positive reviews and has scored 72% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 6.6 on IMDB.
High Art revolves around a woman named Syd, short for Sydney, who is 24 and is extremely ambitious with her life already planned ahead by her. She is working, as an associate editor, in a very prestigious art magazine called Frame and she lives with her boyfriend James, with whom she has had a long-lasting relationship. Her normal life full of aspirations and frustrations, though, changes as long as her ceiling starts leaking and she visits the apartment above hers.
The owner of the apartment and the person who answers on the door is a woman called Lucy Berliner. Lucy is a very attractive, charming and mysterious woman, who spent her life as a distinguished photographer, but is bizarrely retired, only at the age of 40. Lucy spends her life, alongside with her drug-addicted German girlfriend Greta, being the hostess of many kids who have a tough life, but like to party. Lucys life has no particular goal, but the fascination she casts on Syd, is simply irresistible. Before she knows it, she is caught inside an enthralling world that Syd never experienced before.
Syd is so enthusiastic about her new friend that she decides to make her bosses aware of Lucys existence. In the beginning her bosses did not take her seriously, until they comprehended who Lucy really was. They offer her a job, but she would agree to take the position, in one condition. Syd would have to be her editor.
Syd and Lucys relationship started to grow overtime, initially, as a strictly professional and friendly one. Soon a new project appeared on the horizon, one that could jumpstart the, then, non-existent Lucys career. As the project takes off, the two women come very close, and the once professional relationship started to resemble a carnal affair. Soon, loves kicks in and the boundaries between the professional and sexual statuses blur. Syd, however, starts to realize more and more uncomforting aspects of Lucys unstable and dangerous life and she suddenly has to make a decision. Is she going to fall for Lucy and succumb to love, or is she going to leave everything behind and pursue her dream towards fame and professional success?
The movie is an excellent, yet hardly anything less than a punch in the stomach, depiction of an existing but miniscule part of the art scene in New York. Lisa Cholodenko's award-winning screenwriting tries to revolve around the art genius-drug addict way of life that seemed to be so modern and fashionable, in 1998 and today. She accurately shows the extent of the impact drugs have on the lives of people and tries to keep this view as hard and non-glorified as possible. Moreover, the movie tries to lighten up the issue of homosexuality and show it as a positive and normal condition, especially if the relationship is trouble-free. The dialogues avoid any stereotypical remarks on the issue, which is not commonplace in other movies that deal with same-sex relationships. We could say that the screenplay was purposely written to shock the audience, in an attempt to give a serious tone to the whole movie. Furthermore, the characters use extensive swearing, in a director's try to expose and bring forward, the writer's disappointment on modern lifestyle.
The most commendable part of the film is, by far, the excellent performance of Ally Sheedy, as Lucy Berliner. She manages to maintain the power of the character, although the role is a tragic, self-destructive woman; a mix that would normally make it unlikable. However, this is not a surprise as Sheedy has always managed to pull it off with mysterious but appealing roles, in her career. On the other hand, Radha Mitchell is not able to live up to the expectations of the audience. Her character is condensed but it still has a negative effect on the story. The actor looks like she does not know where to steer the character's emotions, in relevance to the situations at hand. The most disappointing performance of the film has to be the one by Patricia Clarkson, in the role of Lucy's girlfriend, Greta. She cannot replicate a convincing German accent, making many lines incomprehensible to the viewer. In general, all the actors performed well, although, as their characters are tragic, they were hard to appreciate.
All in all, High Art is a very striking film, at least on the eyes. The film has masterful colors and Lisa Cholodenko has managed to give a certain allure and emotion to the homosexual sex scenes that are abundant throughout the movie. Thus, the title does describe the feel of this movie very well. The director is always trying to develop some suspense, which makes the movie easier to swallow. However, the hard contents of the flick are too hard for some people to accept. If you are into this kind of movies, High Art is one for you. Other audiences, though, would not approve it.
