Tuesday, June 20, 2006
High Art
Last night I watched Lisa Cholodenko's High Art on DVD (on my laptop while the rest of my family watched the Nationals get creamed by the Red Sox on the TV in the basement.) Gorgeously photographed (appropriately, for a film about photography) in rich, hazy, drug-induced hues. Ally Sheedy is a revelation -- sad, sexy, tightly wound. Patricia Clarkson is also marvelous -- sad and funny sometimes, too, vamping and swooning. The central character Syd (Radha Mitchell), an earnest intern at a photography magazine, I found a little too earnest and her boring boyfriend unrealistically dull. (Who wouldn't prefer the drugged-out hipsters in the apartment above? The plot point that brings Syd upstairs is a dripping ceiling... leaky hedonism, get it?)
Still, I prefer High Art to Cholodenko's more recent Laurel Canyon, despite the presence of the always-fab Frances McDormand in the latter film. The characters are more interesting and visually, it's much more striking. Highly recommended!
Still, I prefer High Art to Cholodenko's more recent Laurel Canyon, despite the presence of the always-fab Frances McDormand in the latter film. The characters are more interesting and visually, it's much more striking. Highly recommended!
