3. High-Rise
British TV viewers are currently bewitched by the dashing Tom Hiddleston getting up to his neck in trouble in The Night Manager. Head to the cinema on the other hand and you'll find him in different gear for High-Rise, the latest addition to the tower block stable from rising helmer Ben Wheatley. Based on the book by visionary author J G Ballard, the production has been in the making for decades, having one of those plots that could be deemed unfilmable in a commercial sense. The satirical sci-fi'er welcomes Hiddleston as Dr Laing, whose induction into a seemingly perfect, altitude-happy lifestyle is only the prelude to a factional and violent dispute between the inhabitants. Sienna Miller, Luke Evans, Jeremy Irons and Elisabeth Moss fill out the roster of flat dwellers in a 1970s-styled project, in keeping with the novel. Don't Look Now's Nicolas Roeg nearly realized High-Rise during the period. By most accounts Wheatley has picked up the baton with great success.
Steve Palace
Contributor
I am a journalist and comedian who enjoys American movies of the 70s, Amicus horror compendiums, Doctor Who, Twin Peaks, Naomi Watts and sitting down. My short fiction has been published as part of the Iris Wildthyme range from Obverse Books.
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