High Art | | Cast : | Radha Mitchell, Ally Sheedy, Patricia Clarkson | | Director : | Lisa Cholodenko | | Studio : | Universal Studios Ho | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | June 12, 1998 | | DVD Released Date : | February 08, 2005 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), French (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 29, 2005 | | Summary | High Art answers burning questions | Content
 | Syd (Radha Mitchell), an editor at an art magazine, befriends her photographer neighbor Lucy (Ally Sheedy), and a relationship ensues. If you've ever wondered what happened to Allison Reynolds after her Breakfast Club detention, I'm sorry to tell you she grew up to be a lesbian heroin addict. This movie has a few shining moments (most of which involve Patricia Clarkson as the tragically beautiful girlfriend) and will make you think about life and your place in it. -C Gunnells, CeleGAYtions
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| Rating | | | Date | May 27, 2005 | | Summary | Too much space between the silences........ | Content
| I did have high-hopes for this film, though sadly, it just didn't quite deliver. The premise is sound enough (though hardly original) and the main protaganists' performances are OK; but the pacing, script and even the cinematography conspire to drain the life out what could be a promising film. Instead it is nothing more than yet another addition to an already substantial body of tragic lesbian stories. Do directors not realise that not all lesbian relationships are angst-ridden?!!
If this film 'worked' surely we would having a passing interest in the characters' lives as they unfold - but I found myself wanting the end to come as soon as possible...it was a merciful release when it did.
Patricia Clarkson's performance stole the show as a caricatured drug-addled Berliner :-) - ocassionally straying into Marlena teritory (very funny - though unintentionally so! oops, sorry abuot that!).
There are so many more positive potrayals of lesbian relationships out there ; even if angst is your thing, there are so many more accomplished films out there in celuloid-land! If on the other hand you like your films to be self-conscious (and dare I say pretentious [like much 'high-art' surely not;-)] and your characters two-dimensional, then this movie is for you... bon appetite!
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| Rating | | | Date | November 17, 2004 | | Summary | Fantastic!! a must have...!! | Content
| One fantastic and real movie.
I am not going to explain the content of the film since the previous reviewers did an excellent job; I must only say that this film is essential in your DVD collection and it will be in your thoughts for a long time.
Far away from a Hollywood Love movie, this film captures the essence of the relationships based in opportunities, ambition and manipulation. Which brings the question, what will you do for getting what you want?.
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| Rating | | | Date | September 23, 2004 | | Summary | Among the best lesbian stories | Content
| After watching this movie (not an ordinary love story) I did have an attitude adjustments. An excellent story about falling in love and walking on the edge. I could not stop thinking about this movie for days after I watched it.... |
| Rating | | | Date | August 01, 2004 | | Summary | Sometimes opportunity knocks on the door both ways | Content
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The trailer for "High Art" says this 1998 film from writer-director Lisa Cholodenko is about "ambition, seduction, sacrifice and other career moves," which is a particularly bad way to sell the film. Syd (Radha Mitchell) has just been made an associate editor at a New York photo magazine, although it is not clear why she got the job let alone whether the title means anything more than glorified intern. One night she is taking a bath when she notices water is coming through her ceiling. She goes upstairs and knocks on the door of the apartment above the one she shares with her boyfriend, James (Gabriel Mann), and enters a whole new world.
The apartment belongs to Lucy Berliner (Ally Sheedy) and the place is basically a heroin den. The walls are covered with photographs and eventually we learn that Lucy was once a well-known photographer. But now her life is an endless circle of drugs, love making with her lover, Greta (Patricia Clarkson), and fairly brutal visits with her mother (Tammy Grimes). The photographs all speak to Lucy's obsession with Greta, a former German actress who made films with Fassbinder, and who is so out of it she falls asleep all the time, not only in restaurants but in the middle of Lucy making love to her. Syd thinks that Lucy's photographs might help her make a name for herself at her magazine, and she has no idea how right she is when she brings in a book of Lucy's photographs to her boss (David Thornton) and the magazine's editor (Anh Duong).
Lucy agrees, but with the stipulation that Syd will be her editor and it becomes clear that the older photographer is considering the young wannabe editor as new muse. While Lucy's motivations are clear, Syd's are a jumbled confusion of personal and professional feelings. Is she exploring her sexuality with Lucy or exploiting it to get ahead at work? But then we understand that Syd is not simply a new plaything for Lucy, but a chance to abandon the lethargy of her existence and start living again, which only serves to up the ante of their encounters. The problem is that Greta is bound to her life in so many ways that this is a risky proposition at best and if the situations depicted are beyond our reality the ending of this film is not.
Sheedy and Mitchell provided solid performances as the key players, with Clarkson underplaying the human sinkhole that is Greta's heroin addict. However, this is a sense of detachment in the film because of Cholodenko's decision to do the sex scenes without graphic nudity. In fact, most of the love scenes involve the characters keeping their clothes on to the point that the line the director has drawn for her actresses becomes obvious and something of a distraction. This is not to say that nudity is necessary for sensuality to be portrayed on screen, but simply that avoiding it so rigorously works against those scenes in "High Art."
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