High Art
{{Short description|1998 film by Lisa Cholodenko}}
{{About|the film|the general use of the term |High culture}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox film
| name = High Art
| image = High art ver1.jpg
| caption = Promotional poster
| director = Lisa Cholodenko
| writer = Lisa Cholodenko
| producer = {{Plain list|
- Jeff Levy-Hinte
- Susan A. Stover
- Dolly Hall
}}
| starring = {{Plainlist|
- Ally Sheedy
- Radha Mitchell
- Gabriel Mann
- Patricia Clarkson
- Bill Sage
- Anh Duong
- David Thornton
- Tammy Grimes}}
| cinematography = Tami Reiker
| editing = Amy E. Duddleston
| music = Shudder to Think
| studio = {{Plain list|
- 391 Productions
- Antidote Films
}}
| distributor = {{Plain list|
- October Films {{small|(United States)}}
- Odeon Films {{small|(Canada)}}
}}
| released = {{film date|1998|1|21|Sundance|1998|6|12|United States}}
| runtime = 101 minutes
| country = {{Plain list|
- United States
- Canada
}}
| language = English
| gross = $2 million{{cite web |title=High Art |website=Box Office Mojo |publisher=IMDbPro |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0139362/ |access-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007134540/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0139362/ |url-status=live}}
}}
High Art is a 1998 independent romantic drama written and directed by Lisa Cholodenko, and starring Ally Sheedy and Radha Mitchell. It premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, and saw a limited release in the United States on June 12, 1998.
The film received largely positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for Sheedy's performance, which earned several accolades, including the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress and the National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress.
Synopsis
Sydney (or simply "Syd"), age 24, is a woman who has her whole life mapped out in front of her. Living with longtime boyfriend James, and working her way up at the respected high-art photography magazine Frame, Syd has desires and frustrations that seem typical and manageable. But when a crack in her ceiling springs a leak and Syd finds herself knocking on the door of her upstairs neighbor, a chance meeting suddenly takes her on a new path.
Opening the door to an uncharted world for Syd is Lucy Berliner, a renowned photographer, enchanting, elusive, and curiously retired. Now 40, Lucy lives with her once glamorous, heroin-addicted German girlfriend Greta, and plays host to a collection of hard-living party kids. Syd is fascinated by Lucy and becomes drawn into the center of Lucy's strangely alluring life upstairs.
Syd mentions Lucy to her bosses (without realising that she is famous) but they remain uninterested until they realise exactly who Lucy is. At a lunch, Lucy agrees to work for the magazine as long as Syd is her editor. Soon a working relationship develops between the two and a project is underway which promises a second chance for Lucy's career. But as Syd and Lucy's collaboration draws them closer together, their working relationship turns sexual and the lines between love and professionalism suddenly blur. As Syd slowly discovers the darker truths of Lucy's life on the edge, she is forced to confront her own hunger for recognition and the uncertain rewards of public esteem.
Cast
{{Cast listing|
- Ally Sheedy as Lucy Berliner
- Radha Mitchell as Syd, an assistant editor at Frame
- Gabriel Mann as James, Syd's live-in boyfriend
- Charis Michelsen as Debby
- David Thornton as Harry, an editor at Frame and Syd's boss
- Anh Duong as Dominique, chief editor of Frame
- Patricia Clarkson as Greta, a German actress and Lucy's live-in girlfriend
- Helen Mendes as White Hawk
- Bill Sage as Arnie
- Tammy Grimes as Vera, Lucy's mother
- Cindra Feuer as Delia
- Anthony Ruivivar as Xanderr
- Elaine Tse as Zoe
- Rudolf Martin as Dieter
- Laura Ekstrand as Waitress
- Sarita Choudhury as Joan
}}
Production notes
The photography by Lucy Berliner (Sheedy) was based on Nan Goldin's work. The photographs were made by Jojo Whilden.{{cite news |last=Von Busack |first=Richard |title=Cold Dish of Careerism |publication-date=June 18–24, 1998 |work=Metro Silicon Valley |publisher=Metro Publishing Inc. |url=https://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/06.18.98/highart-9824.html |access-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007135013/https://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/06.18.98/highart-9824.html |url-status=live}}
Reception
= Release =
The film premiered at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival to rave reviews.{{cite news |last=Tatara |first=Paul |title=Review: 'High Art' clever, but low on ambition |publication-date=June 26, 1998 |work=CNN |url=https://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9806/26/review.highart/ |access-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-date=March 30, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330114738/http://edition.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9806/26/review.highart/ |url-status=dead}}
= Critical response =
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 76%, based on 49 reviews, and an average rating of 6.8/10.{{cite web |title=High Art |website=Rotten Tomatoes |publisher=Fandango Media |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/high_art |access-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007140839/https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/high_art |url-status=live}} The site's critics consensus reads, "A surprisingly sultry performance from Ally Sheedy elevates High Art from pretentious melodrama to compelling -- if still a little pretentious -- romance." On Metacritic, High Art has a score of 73 based on 17 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".{{cite web |title=High Art |website=Metacritic |publisher=Fandom |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/high-art/ |access-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007141839/https://www.metacritic.com/movie/high-art/ |url-status=live}}
Film critic Roger Ebert praised the film as "masterful", noting "High Art is so perceptive and mature it makes similar films seem flippant. The performances are on just the right note, scene after scene, for what needs to be done."{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=High Art Movie Review & Film Summary |publication-date=July 3, 1998 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/high-art-1998 |access-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007143630/https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/high-art-1998 |url-status=live}}
Emanuel Levy of Variety wrote, "The beauty of Cholodenko’s writing is that she etches the evolving friendship, and the transformation of the two women, step by step, without any cheating," and that she "painstakingly dissects the culture of heroin chic and its implications."{{cite magazine |last=Levy |first=Emanuel |author-link=Emanuel Levy |title=High Art |magazine=Variety |publisher=Penske Media Corporation |publication-date=January 27, 1998 |url=https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/high-art-2-1200452479/ |access-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007202101/https://variety.com/1998/film/reviews/high-art-2-1200452479/ |url-status=live}} Of Sheedy, Levy wrote after years of "’80s teen-angst movies, [she] shakes up her old screen image entirely and emerges as a mature, highly disciplined actress." Levy noted "Clarkson excels in portraying an aging, disenchanted actress, desperately clinging to Lucy – and to drugs", and singled out Mitchell as the film's "real revelation", saying "her scenes with Sheedy are so truthfully touching."
Janet Maslin of The New York Times praised the performances, but said the ending is one of "contrived inevitability."{{cite news |last=Maslin |first=Janet |author-link=Janet Maslin |title=FILM REVIEW; Jaded Artist and Ingenue In an Arty Spider Web |work=The New York Times |publication-date=June 12, 1998 |page=12 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/12/movies/film-review-jaded-artist-and-ingenue-in-an-arty-spider-web.html |access-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007202653/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/12/movies/film-review-jaded-artist-and-ingenue-in-an-arty-spider-web.html |url-status=live}}
IndieWire listed it as #7 of The 15 Greatest Lesbian Movies of All Time.{{cite web |last=Dry |first=Jude |title=The 15 Greatest Lesbian Movies of All Time, Ranked |website=IndieWire |publisher=Penske Media Corporation |publication-date=May 8, 2017 |url=http://www.indiewire.com/2017/05/best-lesbian-movies-all-time-lgbt-film-1201813139/2/ |access-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-date=May 7, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180507191810/http://www.indiewire.com/2017/05/best-lesbian-movies-all-time-lgbt-film-1201813139/2/ |url-status=dead}} In 2022, Autostraddle listed it as #58 of The 200 Best Lesbian Movies of All Time.{{cite magazine |last=Burnett Gregory |first=Drew |title=The 100 Best Lesbian Movies Of All Time |magazine=Autostraddle |publisher=The Excitant Group, LLC |publication-date=July 16, 2024 |url=https://www.autostraddle.com/100-best-lesbian-queer-bisexual-movies-285412/?all=1 |access-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-date=October 7, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241007211613/https://www.autostraddle.com/100-best-lesbian-queer-bisexual-movies-285412/?all=1 |url-status=live}}
Awards and nominations
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20110707151049/http://www.antidotefilms.com/films/high-art/high-art-trailer/ Official site]
- {{IMDb title|id=0139362|title=High Art}}
- {{rotten-tomatoes|high_art}}
- {{Mojo title|highart}}
{{Lisa Cholodenko}}
{{GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film – Limited Release}}
Category:1998 LGBTQ-related films
Category:American romantic drama films
Category:American LGBTQ-related films
Category:Bisexuality-related films
Category:English-language Canadian films
Category:1990s English-language films
Category:American independent films
Category:Lesbian-related films
Category:1998 romantic drama films
Category:Films directed by Lisa Cholodenko
Category:Canadian LGBTQ-related films
Category:1998 directorial debut films
Category:Sundance Film Festival award–winning films
Category:1998 independent films
Category:Films about photographers
Category:Films about heroin addiction
Category:English-language independent films