High Art

High Art (1998)

by Lisa Cholodenko

I arrived to High Art with an unexpected prejudice founded on the comment of a friend whose opinion in film I really respect. So even when I worked hard to arrive to the movie without any expectations, I watched this one with Hipster Movie tag was still in my mind. Nevertheless, as I started to watch I really liked the initial scene, the colors, the realism of the characters and the photographic beauty of the takes.

A lot can be discussed about this movie, including the fact that is in this fancy list instead of many other remarkable movies, but beyond the list I consider this a movie worth watching specially if you like photography. This is a late coming-of-age movie, with a passionate and ambitious character that is also really human and sensitive, finding herself in unusual circumstances by the randomness of life. She finds her passion reflected in the character of Lucy, that has accomplished to become an isolated and independent artist but is also stuck in a moment of her life and see Syd as a door to something else.

I like the casting in this movie, the bodies of the actresses and their movements reveal as many things as the dialogues as the images. Patricia Clarkston is incredible here, and I'm only avoiding to find out if Greta Krauss is a real actress because I don't want to spoil Fassbinder's Berlin Alexanderplatz.

So it is or is not a Hipster Movie? Well, the characters are definitively hipsters and they live particular lives, nevertheless, the situations in which they are involve are easy to identify with and the passion of the characters is a motor that sustains the movie. From the mean bosses at the photography magazine to the neglected boyfriend these movie is sparkled with situations that are common to young adults and that gives the movie a tone of soap opera that I didn't really like. Nevertheless, I really enjoyed it, I really liked the images and although I have reserves putting this film in this list next to great master pieces, I think it is enjoyable and certainly gives a lot of topics for discussion.