Thursday, March 11th 2010

By unknown

As I strolled into the Jackson Square theatre to purchase my ticket for the independent film High Life and was abruptly told by a rather vocal young lady to “watch my steppin’,” I questioned what exactly this movie going experience would have in store. Yet my expectations were exceeded as the film and atmosphere came together to offer an appreciated simplistic satisfaction. Grabbing a seat in a sparsely filled room I was pleasantly surprised as the producer of the film and owner of the theatre came to welcome the theatre audience, which consisted mainly of elderly women, couples, and me. The appreciation and involvement of the audience was a nice change from the crowded and yet impersonal scramble that you can expect at any major mainstream theatre. The Art Gallery of Hamilton offers a wide range of these independent Canadian films year round and for a student-discounted price you’ll get to support the arts and engage with some great-unknown Canadian films. This particular film and the theatre had a quirky charm about them that made me smile to myself and settle down to watch a wholesome drug addiction heist movie.

“Morphine is the drug of choice for the smart drug user” the main character Dick explains in one of the opening scenes for director Gary Yates’ independently funded and filmed movie High Life. The bubble gum pink substance that is the ever elusive morphine in this film is the source of all solutions and problems for Dick, Bug, Billie and Donnie (a sketched out team of petty-crooks determined to make some quick cash off of an ATM bank machine scam).

Originally done as a live theatrical performance and set in 1983, the filmmakers had their work cut out for them but managed to bring integrity to the story of three ex-cons and one suave scammer embarking upon a desperately pathetic scam to score some cash, get back on top of the world, and ultimately support their subjectively refined drug addiction. With humor residing in the chaotic and coincidental story of this oddball teams’ attempt to make up for past failures, High Life will have you questioning but loving the fact that your rooting for these enjoyably flakey characters to make it out of their wacky and apparently inescapable problems. As Dick and his makeshift team build up their unprecedented confidence and justify their misguided principles we as the outsider audience get a look as their big pink morphine filled bubble of tripped out dreams is popped.

With the music of April Wine, CCR, Max Webster, and Three Dog Night playing throughout the narrative, scenes bring the characters and audience back to the” good old days.” The film maintains a nostalgic feel that is sure to get your head bobbing to those classic rock and roll beats. During the Q&A session afterwards, the film’s producer Robin Cass revealed to an intrigued audience that, because of the High Life’s drug filled content, David Bowie had actually declined the use of his music. Despite the absence of Bowie-tunes, the film’s musical score still fits in perfectly with these drug-crazed criminals. Whether they are tripping out while pink ice cream melts onto a messed up morphine dosed Dick, or pulling out a shotgun in a desperate change of plans, the classic rock tunes embody the live in the moment and think about the consequences later mentality that drives the whole crew to their ultimate downfall.

The hilariously hopeless impulses of the hot headed Bug (played by Stephen Eric McIntyre), advance the plot in a sporadic and amusing way while the slightly more balanced Dick (played by Timothy Olyphant) desperately tries to pick up the sloppy pieces left behind by his anger filed trigger happy counterpart. While Rossif Sutherland provides the pretty boy face of the suave heist front man Billie, across the Universe star Joe Anderson plays Donnie’s anxious yet “perfect little criminal mind” that simultaneously complicates and solves their increasingly exciting mess of a simple crime gone wrong. Ultimately the hilarity and excitement climaxes with a not so coincidentally placed pink dye exploding all over Dick, Bug, and the money they had risked everything yet nothing for. As Bug’s unsuitably enhanced confidence leads him onto a short lived but glorious ride on a horse that he had earlier hallucinated in Dicks apartment, the crazy pink covered quest comes to a halt with Bugs body slamming to the ground upon colliding with a tree.

The petty drugged up dreams of these four amusing criminals are shown for what they are; Dick ends up back in jail and Bug ends up pink, dead and surrounded by his useless tainted money. In the end we are left with a clean Donnie picking up an optimistic Dick from his second prison sentence. Ultimately this film captures the hopelessly self-depreciating habits off these characters in a fun and entertaining way that shows just how far a minimal budget and high hopes can go.

•Trevor Roach

Tags: CULTURE, film