High Fantasy

A sometimes grating but earnest attempt to provoke "the conversation" about the world's inequalities.

High Fantasy has a great concept, but it's unfortunately poorly executed and often exhausting. It's frustrating to see a film this inventive and this willing to dive into these arguments lose itself along the way.

High Fantasy is an engaging film which makes good use of its short 71-minute runtime for a fast-paced yet very full narrative.

High Fantasy is successful in highlighting that there are a major social issues South Africa still needs to deal with ... Sadly, it doesn't succeed in carrying that conversation very far itself.

High Fantasy is an inventive and entertaining South African feature that cleverly yokes heavy subject matter to an agile DIY aesthetic.

A well-intentioned sketch of a movie...

It's hard to unpack any of those moments individually, but the strength of the film is that it's willing to push past the homilies we've all been taught about diversity and cooperation and focus on the messy politics and human feelings underneath.

High Fantasy's unassuming, yet piercing examination of race, class and gender embeds Bass firmly in the pantheon of an exciting new wave of South African filmmaking characterized by introspective directors who are digging deep.

"High Fantasy" is a movie for the woke set in 2017; it's about the exploration of the beliefs we espouse on the surface, art that bores beneath that surface to mine its characters' true feelings. It's therefore uncomfortable to watch, but that's natural.

What first seems like a gimmicky no-budget project turns out to be an ingenious way to explore the issues of sex, race and gender that run deep in the South African character.