High Life

2006 | feature | dramedy

A day-in-the-life miniature about a blocked artist who finds himself under siege by his brother’s pot-smoking teenaged crew.

– Distributed by Indiepix Films
– San Francsico Independent Film Festival, official selection
– Montreal Pop Music and Film Festival, official selection
– Idaho International Film Festival, , official selection
– New Filmmakers NY, official selection
– Several screenings in non-traditional spaces

“Brooklyn director Lila Yomtoob’s day-in-the-life miniature about a blocked artist who finds himself under siege by his brother’s pot-smoking teenaged crew is a hidden gem of truly independent film. HIGH LIFE draws the viewer into its suspect premise with a wealth of detail, fine performances, and a nice slow burn of an emotional breakdown. It plays sort of like a Cassavetes inspired mini-DV remake of RULES OF THE GAME, taking place next door to a Larry Clark film.”

Pop Montreal

“A solid fest item… a razor-sharp miniature, capturing the precise moment when prolonged adolescence surrenders to sober adulthood. Performances, language, and technical/design aspects are perfectly honed…certainly bodes well for the future of director Lila Yomtoob and her collaborators.”

Dennis Harvey

Variety

“The beauty of this $5,000 film – apart from the acting, edginess, great score, humour, pathos and bathroom bathos is the fact that it got made. To modify a Frank Zappa line that he had taken from Varese, the modern-day artist refuses to die; and Yomtoob never let little things like money or the film industry come between her and her vision.”

John Griffin

Montreal Gazette