High Art

Lisa Cholodenko's debut starts with Syd, an assistant clawing her way up a photography magazine, realising that the neighbour upstairs is Lucy Berliner, a celebrated photographer who stopped working. Ally Sheedy plays Lucy as someone held in place by heroin and by the people around her. The film's sharpest choice is refusing to clarify where Syd's desire ends and her ambition begins. Sheedy was known from eighties teen pictures; this part split her career in two and won her an Independent Spirit Award. Patricia Clarkson plays Lucy's girlfriend, a former Fassbinder actress. It took the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at Sundance. Who it is for: viewers who like nineties American independents and portraits of an art scene. Who it is not for: anyone wanting a clean romance or a recovery arc.