High Life

It is easy to say that High Life is a comic version of Reservoir Dogs... with drug addicts instead of hardened robbers. But that would be a little unfair to it. There is a comic element, but it is comedy based on the tragedy of these guys lives.

Set in the 1980s, when ATM machines were a new phenomenon, High Life is really about a group of guys who see another chance to improve their lives the easy way. They go for it. And fail in a big way. But they can't quit so they just keep piling failure on failure.

That is the tragedy. You can see that the characters need to try something different. But even the slightly more intelligent leader (played by Timothy Olyphant) can't accept that there is another road.

I thought all four main characters were very good. Very diverse and yet strangely balanced by their shared addictions. The only thing that threw me was that I was convinced that the "pretty boy" character was played by the same actor who was Gambit in the Wolverine Origins film. He isn't. This is Rossif Sutherland and Gambit was played by Taylor Kitsch.

This film isn't a classic, but is still well worth a watch.