High Life (2018)
1/10
Oblivion awaits this movie
12 May 2019
Warning: Spoilers
I just had a quick look at IMDB before seeing this movie and saw it got 6/10. Looking at reviews now I wonder where that 6 comes from as 90% of reviews here seem to give it 1 or 2...

I was close to walking out of this movie a few times, it's that bad. I've been to film festivals, I've seen a lot of great movies but also a lot of awful ones. This is one of the worst I've seen. I'm struggling to find anything positive. The actors tried to make the best of it but are fighting a hopeless script in an awful set.

It's supposed to be science fiction. You can debate the fiction but there's definitely not a shred of science in sight. The lousy excuse of constant acceleration to explain the gravity on the ship, only to announce that the ship has started to slow down without any loss of that artificial gravity. The space suits have helmets that are open at the back. After Monte has been to the ship with the dogs he claims he needs to decontaminate. Next we don't see him cleaning his suit but taking a shower in his vegetable plot. The ship runs on some magic energy source. Nevermind the energy needed for life support, apparently the engines need to constantly accelerate the box of a ship.

Dibs is a scientist and prison warden. The prisoners are also crew members that have to work together. For some reason during the 'day' they can walk around freely and work with tools and potential weapons, but during the 'night' they need to be locked up. Some are tied to their bed with cable ties for some unexplained reason while others are not. Somehow after 20 years in space the ship meets up with a similar ship that turns out to be full of dogs. No explanation of how the dogs survived by themselves for all that time, or why that ship apparently doesn't need the daily reports to keep the systems alive.

I have no problem with nudity but the long scene where Dibs masturbates on a big metal dildo is awful and serves no purpose other than showing Juliette Binoche naked.

The most disturbing part of the film are the rape scenes. First a male prisoner/ crew member with tattoos rapes a female prisoner/ crew member and is punished severely. Next the female 'scientist' puts drugs in the ships drinking water (that apparently she doesn't drink herself) and while everyone is unconscious she rapes a male crew member. Apparently that's all fine because she loves him and it's in the name of science. She then goes to the female quarters and rapes one of the women to insert the sperm she just collected.

Suddenly we jump 15 years ahead. The baby is now a teenage girl. Just to show she's now a grown woman (and I guess as part of the reproduction theme) we have to see the blood stains on the sheets from having her period. Then father and daughter 'have a good feeling' about the next black hole they've found, get in their escape pod, and.... finally the movie is over. Two hours I'll never get back.
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