Early in writer-director Lisa Cholodenko’s High Art, Syd (Radha Mitchell), a young associate editor at a prestigious photography magazine, goes upstairs to complain to her neighbors upon spotting a leak in her bathroom ceiling. Soon after confronting Lucy (Ally Sheedy), Syd learns that her neighbor is a talented photographer whose early acclaim led her to seclusion and heroin addiction. Their near-instant attraction to one another could easily have been followed by an insufferably maudlin tale of love and redemption, but Cholodenko shrewdly elides sentimentality and retains a tone of muted restraint that bolsters the film’s attempts at subtle realism.
Cholodenko infuses the depiction of Syd and Lucy’s bourgeoning relationship with a palpable tension and danger through the perverse hold that Lucy’s older girlfriend, Greta (Patricia Clarkson, in a revelatory breakthrough performance), who’s also addicted to heroin, has on Lucy. Mitchell and Sheedy each bring the perfect combination of tenderness and grit to their roles, lending the constant internal push-pull between Syd and Lucy a volatility and excitement that often accompanies love affairs that are equally passionate and troubled from the start.
As Syd confronts her growing feelings for Lucy, she sees a major opportunity to reintroduce the once-renowned artist’s work to the public, forcing her to balance her desires for both Lucy’s body and access to her body of work. Meanwhile, Syd, who’s already surrounded by more than enough hangers-on, is forced to confront her own demons and decide if she even wants all the baggage that would accompany being in the public eye again. Throughout, the actors gracefully convey their characters’ ever-shifting feelings and concerns through the subtlest of motions.
From Clarkson’s thorny, jealous German actor, to Bill Sage’s aimless yet thoughtful loafer, Arnie, who’s always ready for another line of heroin, strong character work from everyone involved helps to fill out the film’s raw portrait of the East Village hipster scene. And it’s the authenticity with which these characters and their insular little world are treated that helps lend High Art a sneaky emotional depth. Like Lucy’s photography, Cholodenko’s film is intensely focused and intimate, capturing the complex, inner landscapes of its two central characters.
Image/Sound
Criterion’s transfer of a new 4K restoration, which was done from the 35mm original picture negative, looks excellent. Lisa Cholodenko went to great lengths to ensure that the film’s settings felt authentic, and the clarity and depth of the image here ensures that no small detail will go unnoticed. Colors are naturalistic, and the fine film grain is consistent and well managed. On the audio front, the 5.1 surround track is nicely balanced, with the dialogue cleanly and crisply presented and the background chatter, outdoor ambience, and Shudder to Think’s low-key yet distinctly moody score evocatively spread out across the remaining channels.
Extras
In a 2004 commentary, Lisa Cholodenko discusses the casting and production processes, touching on what she likes about most of the actors’ performances and how certain scenes were filmed. She also appears in a wonderful new conversation with director Karyn Kusama, bringing up how she became enmeshed in the New York cultural scene in the 1990s and how she came up with the visual style for the film. In their new interviews, Radha Mitchell and Ally Sheedy speak about their attraction to the material and Cholodenko’s vision, while photographer JoJo Whilden discusses her process to create all of Lucy’s photos in the film. Lastly, Cholodenko’s 1997 short film “Dinner Party” is included, along with a booklet with an essay by critic B. Ruby Rich, who contextualizes High Art within the New Queer Cinema movement of the ’90s.
Overall
The Criterion Collection has outfitted Lisa Cholodenko’s breakthrough debut with a good-looking transfer and solid assortment of extras.
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