Ben Wheatley brings an anarchic sense of fun to JG Ballard’s myth of societal collapse,turning it from a warning into a jokeHigh Rise stars Tom Hiddleston as Dr Robert Laing. He lives on the 27th floor of a tower block built for the affluent. The well-off live in the lower floors, the rich – like Laing – in the middle, or the super-rich at the top. Life,insulated and protected, is idyllic, or until the power structure starts to shift. The lower residents climb the tall Rise and all hell breaks loose.
Ballard saw how society reacts to a grand mal seizure when he grew up in a Shanghai internment camp. Society is fragile: we’re a cross word away from raping or killing our neighbour. He wanted to strip away the sheen – but director Ben Wheatley layers it all back on. His vision is weirdly glossy,with the myth set in the 70s (the book was published in 1975); the combination of the low-ish budget production values and the wry tone makes the film feel like a pastiche. Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com