Critics Scoreboard
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Average Critic Score:
73
(17 sources)
73
(17 sources)
-
91
Entertainment Weekly
Who knew that Brat Packer Sheedy would shine as a heroin-addicted photographer who had too much fame too early? Read Full Review » -
90
LA Weekly
What makes High Art remarkable is Cholodenko's refusal to put her characters or story through a filter, her unblinking willingness to dive right in. Read Full Review » -
88
Chicago Sun-Times
So perceptive and mature it makes similar films seem flippant. The performances are on just the right note, scene after scene, for what needs to be done. Read Full Review » -
80
Chicago Reader
As storytelling it isn'’t always as clean as it might be, but this 1998 first feature by writer-director Lisa Cholodenko is an interesting debut for its nuanced sense of character and its terrific sex scenes--scenes that actually serve character development for a change. Read Full Review » -
80
Variety
Compassionate and deft as Cholodenko's helming is, pic's overall impact largely depends on its central triangle. Read Full Review » -
80
The New York Times
To their credit, the actors immerse themselves deeply in the film's self-conscious aura. Ms. Sheedy reinvents herself as a tough, fascinating presence, while Ms. Mitchell's earnest bewilderment also serves the story well. Read Full Review » -
80
Dallas Observer
With more angst than you can shake a stick at, High Art sets a new course for the indie American film. Instead of the usual Scorsese-esque buddy confab, we have something closer to the funky Fassbinder world of marginalized, pansexual depressives. Read Full Review » -
78
-
75
Christian Science Monitor
Sensitive acting and imaginative filmmaking help rescue the movie from potential excesses of its own. Read Full Review » -
70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Though High Art has more than a few awkward touches--all the male characters take up less than one dimension, for example--it's otherwise a nicely underplayed, memorable, beautifully filmed movie. Read Full Review » -
70
TV Guide
First-time director Lisa Cholodenko, who has made a powerful and modish film with a subtle and knowing script, is more than ably assisted by a spectacular cast. Read Full Review » -
63
ReelViews
I suppose High Art is as good a name as any for this pretentious melodrama, an often- diverting but ultimately pointless attempt to wed intellectual twaddle with a soap-opera-ish lesbian romance. Read Full Review » -
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Has a subtle magnetism, and a real human pulse, especially as it concentrates on its two main characters. Read Full Review » -
60
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50
San Francisco Examiner
Cholodenko's strategy of having the actors, in every scene -- whether it involves Lucy, the boyfriend or the Frame editors -- perform with an intonational flatness approaching monotone pretentiously undermines the effectiveness of her subject matter. Read Full Review » -
50
San Francisco Chronicle
It is wonderful to see how Sheedy gives shape to this performance -- her eyes, a photographer's eyes, carefully sizing everything up. [18 June 1998, Daily Notebook, p.E1] Read Full Review » -
50
Los Angeles Times
High Art is, unfortunately, full of itself and its artistic pretensions. Read Full Review »
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