high art [A-]

moviemcpeake snippet: So I had a Lisa Cholodenko (Writer/Director) day. On television they were playing Laurel Canyon which was an interesting enough film to warrant me to remove the cellophane off my dvd copy of High Art. And boy am I glad I did.

High Art is a film about a woman torn between her partner of many years, a bad coke habit, and a new woman who wants to help her resurrect her photography career and her love life. It is clear that the main character, Lucy played by Ally Sheedy (The Breakfast Club), struggles with staying true to her love, photography while trying to find her love in life.

The acting by the three women was splendid. Patrica Clarkson plays Greta the dramatic, over drugged, washed up German actress who has been Lucy’s partner for years. Sheedy, shines at what should have been her comeback role, but nothing much came of it after this film. Radha Mitchell, plays Lucy’s new love and inspiration, Syd. Mitchell carries Syd’s nativity, frailness, and insecurities with poise.

High Art is a wonderfully complex relationship film that gets right to the story and characters. There is no fancy set or camera work to help mold the direction of the film. And none is need, since the story does well in its simplistic surroundings. The realism of the dilemma of love, pleasing one’s mother, and breaking self destructive habits engulf the characters and spits them out leaving them to deal with the actualities of life. It isn’t a gritty film, but a gritty love story, where happy endings are few and far between. Where nothing is prosaic and everything moment seems romantic.

recommendation: a must see for people who love watching films on relationships and people.