Just saw the film at the Viennale, Austria's International Film Festival. The reactions have not been as harsh as in Toronto, I saw just one person walking out and one booing at the end. I think that the brutality of the film is not so special anymore, but don't get me wrong. This isn't something positive. But during the last decade brutality in feature films had increased and "High Life" does not show more than we already got used to.
The film has its merits but all in all I was disappointed by the waste of talented actors. The story is confusing and the slang for non-Americans hard to understand. It is said to be about sexuality but I doubt it. If you dare to boil down the story from its sci-fi setting to what it is really all about you will find a not so new story about outcasts in a deadly surrounding. Most people start to kill each other while others stick to the bitter end fulfilling their duties. And only one is able to find love and develop human feelings. To be honest: the ordeal to watch this film is not worth the outcome.
The film has its merits but all in all I was disappointed by the waste of talented actors. The story is confusing and the slang for non-Americans hard to understand. It is said to be about sexuality but I doubt it. If you dare to boil down the story from its sci-fi setting to what it is really all about you will find a not so new story about outcasts in a deadly surrounding. Most people start to kill each other while others stick to the bitter end fulfilling their duties. And only one is able to find love and develop human feelings. To be honest: the ordeal to watch this film is not worth the outcome.