The “High Life” narrates a deep space mission that was about a group of prisoners who were used as guinea pigs. It is a science fiction movie with some old art-house style. Moments of battling using spaceships or shootouts are not part of the movie, likewise there is no struggle over who should rule an empire. It depicts basic human life behaviors in an unknown environment.
Interestingly, the whole picture of the movie starts with the life of Pattinson’s Monte who is the main character of movie. He is one of the criminals sent on a space mission toward a black hole. Taking care of a little girl named Willow, he is initially seen living in solitude on the space vessel.
This part of “High Life” also gives one of the most obvious displays yet of Pattinson’s sneaky star power. I could clearly watch a single dad caring for a baby in a neglected building. Here, the main character is seen having a great bond with the audience by performing every stage between Monte and Willow as an account of simple actions – feeding, putting the baby to sleep as well as making the baby stop crying for the sake of his own mental health. To climax it all, having a video call with Willow whiles repairing the exterior of the space vessel.
Eventually, Dr. Dibs is the actual commander of the mission though there is a captain for the mission who does not really have power whatsoever. Dr. Dibs carries experiments on herself and the others.
“High Life” purposely remains on the plant life of the ship instead of treating it as mere background decoration. Like so much else in this emblematic movie, they are basic, natural objects that are just what they appear to be (plants that serve as food and oxygen for the crew members) and, at the same time, sign of fertility, in a film that is preoccupied with sex, reproduction, parenting, and the furtherance of human race.
To break up the narrative, “High Life” turns out to be a multicolored experience unlike a normal traditional movie. There is a prove by the moviemaker that something happened to the crew and made it known to us what really happened but does not answer the question as to how it all happened. “High Life” is not meant to be solved or understood, but the best you can do is to experience the movie.
“High Life” gives you that physical experience of the world it offers rather than most traditional science-fiction movies that uses discourse to depict its world. The spacecraft feels confined and burdensome, and more of the storytelling is done through its sounds, textures, silence, and bodily sensations.
You can explain “High Life”, but you should not be in expectation of the movie giving you just a single clarification. It offers you a real world full of strange, emotionally influential pictures and situations, then leaves lots of questions for you to give answers.
“High Life” is the kind of movie that makes people argue about whether it is actually good. But to answer that question, you first have to ask what you expected the movie to do—and whether it was ever actually trying to satisfy those expectations. The movie is made up with sex, reproduction, the body, fertility, birth, and survival, so the physical expression is not completely to surprise its viewers. It is one that is less interested in nice entertainment and more interested in atmosphere, isolation, secret, and disturbing ideas.
