This is one of the best movies I've seen in a long time, and I am now in love with the director, Lisa Cholodenko. It is beautifully filmed, the story is gripping and complex, and the parts are all acted wonderfully."High Art" is the story of a young, ambitious woman, Syd (played flawlessly by Radha Mitchell) who has just been promoted to the position of assistant editor at the art magazine, Frame. Syd is smart and driven, but there is something very innocent and eager to please about her character. She lives with her boyfriend, James (the adorable Gabriel Mann), and her life seems to be moving in a safe and stable direction.
One night she meets her upstairs neighbor, Lucy Berliner (Ally Sheedy), a once famous photographer who disappeared from the art world 10 years before, Lucy's glamourous German girlfriend, Greta, and their heroin-addicted friends. After seeing Lucy's photographs around the apartment, she tells the editors at Frame about her, and they eventually, despite Lucy's reluctance, commission a cover project for Frame.
Through work on the piece, the relationship between Syd and Lucy develops beyond a professional one (this is the part when all the guys I was watching the movie with went "oooh, lesbian sex!" I love the maturity level of most 19 year old boys). Here the story gets more complicated, with lots of interesting stuff between Lucy and her mother, and Greta and Lucy, and Syd and James, and it's all very beautiful and intriguing.
The scenes between Syd and Lucy are all so comfortable and easy, you find yourself drawn into the film very quickly. Everything about this movie is wonderful, and I want to watch it over and over and over. The protrayal of the art world as glamourous and cut-throat seems right on (but of course how would I know) and Cholodenko captures the complexity of human relationships perfectly. I adore her, and this film. Go out and rent it now.
P.S. The soundtrack by Shudder to Think is great, as well.