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High-Rise

Captivating for Ben Wheatley fans

This kitsch-chic, dystopic parable takes place entirely within the very ugly title skyscraper. The one-percenters inhabit the top floors (Jeremy Irons has the penthouse), with descending castes making do with less lofty positions (Tom Hiddleston lives halfway up). Of course it’s a big, obvious metaphor, but the attraction is in how director Ben Wheatley controls and uses it. It can’t have been easy to adapt J.G. Ballard’s prescient 1975 novel about class warfare in the technology age. The humor in this not-always-cohesive, crazed beast of a movie is of the playfully black variety. Captivating for Wheatley fans. (119 min)