High Rise

HIGHRISE from Gabrielle Russell on Vimeo.

Gabrielle Russell's short yet powerful film, possibly based in the social realism genre. The film begins with a panning/zoom shot over a British housing estate featuring a lot of high rise blocks of flats, immediately the audience can assume that the setting of this film will be in a working class area of town simply from the buildings surrounding it. In one of these high rise flats there is a mother watching the television while her baby is playing with a toy. The flat itself is reminiscent of the TV show 'Shameless' in that it is frankly disgusting; the wallpaper is peeling off and mouldy, the floor is unclean and covered in bits and the sofa is sagging and dirty. The mother herself looks unhappy, wearing scrawny clothes and curled up in a chair like she's trying to hide from something. When the baby starts making noises the mother just looks at it with a very blank emotionless face, no traces of love, affection, kindness or anything one would associate with a mother and baby relationship, perhaps implementing that this baby wasn't 'wanted' or that she regrets having it.
During the film the baby's toy hangs off the edge of the window, with the multistory drop beneath, at first the mother attempts to get the baby, but falls dropping a bottle on the floor, then she hesitates, making the audience wonder whether she's going to get the baby in time. In the end she slowly backs out of the room, she seems to be looking for a reason to get rid of the baby and this is one. After she stands in her dimly lit hallway she hears a scream and rushes back in, much of the audience are probably thinking that the baby fell, especially after we see the open window.
Ultimately the baby didn't fall and just the doll did and the scream was just on the TV. As the mother looks down the doll is smashed on the pavement, it's arm fallen off, showing what could have happened to the baby.
All through the film a gameshow has been playing on the TV and whilst to some it may seem irrelevant I saw the intentions behind it: When the doll is hanging on the window the quizmaster announces the final jackpot question, probably the most nerve racking part of a gameshow it's context is similar to the film scenario, the audience is uncertain of what will happen next and the tension builds. When the player wins the prize she screams; the catalyst for the mother returning to the room and like the player the audience is releaved with the final result.

I enjoyed the film as it sucessfully built up tension, made me guess what would happen next and defied my expectations.