High Life

It's 1983. Ex-con Dick (Timothy Olyphant) is a hospital janitor. He gets an unwelcome surprise visit from cell-mate Bug (Stephen Eric McIntyre) who just got out of prison and promptly gets him fired. Bug still thinks Dick owes him. Dick decides to recruit fellow junkies Donnie (Joe Anderson) and Billy (Rossif Sutherland) to rob the new fandango ATMs. The plan goes wrong and they decide to take an armor truck instead.

Olyphant and company play good hapless junkies. One can almost see their stink lines. There is some fun junkie hijinx. There are a few real laughs. The main thing missing is a first class director. Gary Yates is not really good enough. It's TV movie level work at best.

Initially spotted this as a Timothy Oliphant listing so thought I would give it a go, so glad I did, it was really good fun. I also learned that the extra male eye candy was Kieffer Sutherland's half brother - so I learned something today too.

Now, on to the film itself, great plot, far more to it than initially expected, quirky characters who complimented each other and made it even more fun to watch.

Definitely one for a wet afternoon with a beer.

Caught this on Showtime, and it struck me as a real gem flying low under the radar. Though obviously not big budget, it held my interest and really worked. Excellent script, acting, etc. (For some reason it reminded me of Dustin Hoffman's "Straight Time".)

While Showtime has far more than its share of truly awful gay vampire flesh eating low budget considerable violations of the film genre pieces of crapola, sometimes, "even a blind pig finds an acorn every now and then."

Consider this little jewel a humble acorn undeserved by Showtime.

This flick really works. I've done some time on the street, and have seen the interaction of morons with reality. One is left pondering that classic bit of wisdom, "The best laid plans of mice and men, often go astray..."

But, even if you are a loser, you have to play out your hand. What the arty fartsy French existentialists would term, "La condition humaine."

yeah. yeah. yeah. for me, it's the best dope shooter movie since drug store cowboy. but spun was really good too. but anyway, drugstore cowboy made me want to shoot dope, but this flick made me want to flush it all down the toilet. it is a big bummer. no glamor at all.

high life, shows that dope draws many types of people together in common junky endeavors--primarily getting high, but also in doing time.

these guys don't just share the junky drive, they also share the junky attention span. they're like two year olds--the world flying by them doesn't exist past six hours and the need for the next bump.

and timothy olyphant, man he's good. i'd watch a half hour infomercial if he was in it. and hopefully he'll just keep getting better--that is if he isn't pulled off course by some home-made junky fix, or he just gets burned out on all that Hollywood crud.

i really liked this, it's a good flick. the characters are well developed, but that's kinda easy--you probably know all these guys already; except i hope there's no bug in your life. cause' if there is, chances are you're living this movie and not watching it.

The only criticism of this movie, is that it left me wanting MORE. It is one of the most darkly hilarious drug user movies I have ever seen, and each character was unique and quirky. The dialog, rhythm and strange twists and turns of the plot were highly entertaining. I would like to see more work in future projects by all these talented actors, who worked so well together. Rossif Sutherland, as Billy, was sensational, and presented a fascinating characterization. Timothy Olyphant was a very believable drug abuser, roughing up his usual extremely handsome appearance, and provided a kind of heroic center. This is edgy, brilliant work!