Director Ben Wheatley is back with his fifth film, High Rise. Based upon the novel of the same name by J.G. Ballard, High Rise is a dystopian story set in 1975 London. It follows Robert Laing, a young doctor, who is drawn to the luxurious life offered in a new high rise, an isolated community equipped with every luxury. Living on the 25th floor, Laing revels in the isolated luxury that the high rise has to offer, until he meets a documentary filmmaker bent on exposing the injustices of their paradise. This causes the high rise to descend into anarchy, as it fragments into violent tribes.
If it sounds a bit like The Exterminating Angel meets 1984, you’d be right. Trapping thousands of individuals in a confined space and watching them break free of all social restraints to descend into their most primal instincts was a popular thing to discuss in literature at a time when the world was experiencing advances in technology and increased urbanisation.
The trailer makes no mention of the film; rather it is presented as an advert for Anthony Royal Architecture, the building firm who made the high rise. Voiced by Tom Hiddleston (who plays Dr Laing) and displaying classic 1970s features in strikingly beautiful saturated colour, we are given a glimpse into the luxury of modern life the high rise offers, only rarely getting glimpses of the social anarchy that is soon to come; failed elevators and blood-stained pools.
As well as Tom Hiddleston, High Rise also stars Jeremy Irons as the mysterious architect Anthony Roal; Sienna Miller as his assistant, Charlotte; and Luke Evans as the documentary filmmaker, Richard Wilder. High Rise is due to be released March, 2016 and you can view the trailer below.
#Peace.Love.HighRise
