Film

High Life

Claire Denis's *High Life* is a slow-burn sci-fi horror about isolation, the body, and survival. Robert Pattinson and a young child drift through a decaying spacecraft headed toward a black hole, piecing together what destroyed their crew. Hypnotic and deeply unsettling—less interested in spectacle than in the weight of silence and the irreversible damage humans inflict on each other.

TMDb rating2.9

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like science fiction that treats deep space as a place for bodies, desire and moral residue, and you don't mind a film that thinks in images more than explanations.

Skip it if you want the taut momentum and clear mechanics of most space thrillers; the film moves in long, hushed stretches and rarely explains itself.

What it asks of you: Expect long unhurried stretches, frank sexual content and bleak silences; you need patience more than plot tracking.

If you liked this

Solaris1972

Tarkovsky's masterpiece transforms sci-fi into philosophy. A space station orbits a mysterious planet that forces the crew to confront their deepest wounds. Meditative, gorgeous, and about what it means to be human when no one's watching.

But Three hours of deliberate pacing. If you need plot momentum or answers wrapped up, this will feel like drifting. It demands patience and introspection.

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Under the Skin2014

Jonathan Glazel's film follows an alien predator through Scotland with minimal dialogue. Mysterious, formally experimental, and genuinely disturbing. Scarlett Johansson gives one of cinema's strangest performances.

But Deliberately obscure. Long stretches without clarity or conventional narrative. Some find it pretentious rather than profound.

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A Dark Song2016

Two people rent a house to conduct a spiritual ritual. Intimate, quietly devastating, and focused entirely on grief and what we're willing to endure for redemption. Lacy Doyle's script is extraordinary.

But Slow and intimate to the point of claustrophobia. Nothing happens in the way you'd expect. Requires genuine emotional openness.

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Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from High Life

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Long Day Closes1992

Both films use isolation—whether cosmic or domestic—to reveal what we carry inside. Davies and Denis both trust the camera to sit with pain rather than explain it. Both are formally precise about loneliness.

Terence Davies' semi-autobiographical film about a sensitive boy navigating 1950s Liverpool. Visual reverie, compassion, and formal beauty. Watching it feels like stepping into memory itself. A completely different register from *High Life*, but the same attention to interior desolation.

But Plotless and introspective to the point of abstraction. If you need narrative drive, it's excruciating. Some find its nostalgia suffocating rather than moving.

The Long Day Closes poster
More like this (8)

The Expanse2015

Hard sci-fi television about politics, survival, and moral compromise across the solar system. Technically brilliant, character-driven, and treats space as a hostile workplace rather than a frontier. Seasons 1-5 are exceptional.

But Starts slowly and requires investment in multiple storylines. Some find the early seasons tonally uneven before it finds its footing.

The Expanse poster

Ex Machina2015

Three people in an isolated facility; one of them isn't human. Alex Garland's debut is taut, intellectually vicious, and visually sophisticated. A genuine thriller disguised as a philosophy seminar.

But The gender politics are deliberately uncomfortable. Some dialogue feels stilted. It's interested in ideas more than character warmth.

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Stalker1979

Another Tarkovsky—a guide leads two men into a mysterious zone toward a room that grants wishes. Hypnotic sci-fi that's actually about faith, desire, and the cost of certainty. Incomparable.

But Nearly three hours of philosophical wandering. Almost no conventional conflict. You're watching Tarkovsky be Tarkovsky; take it or don't.

Stalker poster

Arrival2016

First contact, but the focus is language and time rather than invasion. Denis Villeneuve makes sci-fi that feels lived-in and human. Emotionally devastating in ways that sneak up on you.

But Second half relies on a twist that some find manipulative. If you need alien spectacle, it's understated. Slower than its premise suggests.

Arrival poster

The Fountain2006

Aronofsky's ambitious, gorgeous film about love across three timelines: past, present, and far future. Formally inventive, lush, and genuinely moving. A film that trusts you completely.

But Deliberately opaque. Some see profundity, others see self-indulgence. Requires real emotional engagement or it collapses into prettiness.

The Fountain poster

Annihilation2018

Women venture into a mysterious shimmer where nature has gone wrong. Gorgeous horror sci-fi with real stakes and ambiguity. Natalie Portman anchors something genuinely strange and unsettling.

But Refuses to explain itself fully. Ending is deliberately vague. More atmosphere than plot; some find it frustrating rather than mysterious.

Annihilation poster

Come and See1985

*High Life* uses sci-fi distance to explore bodily horror and the violation of autonomy. *Come and See* does it through historical trauma. Both refuse to look away from what humans do to each other. Both feature a young person learning that survival alone is not salvation.

Elem Klimov's devastating Soviet film follows a boy into WWII combat. Graphic, hallucinatory, and unflinching about what war does to innocence. One of cinema's most grueling and necessary experiences.

But Genuinely traumatic. Graphic violence and child suffering. Not difficult in an abstract way—difficult because it's true and unbearable.

Come and See poster

The Holy Mountain1973

Both *High Life* and *The Holy Mountain* treat cinema as ritual rather than entertainment. Both use the body as a primary text. Both refuse easy meaning and conventional catharsis. Both are about descent into darkness as the only path toward understanding.

Jodorowsky's surrealist odyssey: a man climbs a mountain with seven guides toward enlightenment. Visually hallucinatory, transgressive, and completely uncompromised. A film that operates in dream logic and conviction rather than narrative.

But Deeply weird and occasionally grotesque. No plot as you'd recognize it. Some find it profound art; others find it self-indulgent provocation masquerading as depth.

The Holy Mountain poster

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