Claire Denis’ High Life was one of the most uncomfortable movies I’ve seen in a while, its slowness awkward yet rewarding. In an apocalyptic prison full of convicts forced to masturbate as part of a Juliette Binoche’s highly personal artificial insemination “experiment,” Robert Pattinson struggles to retain what is left of his humanity. The movie disdains linearity and Denis often lets us forget where and when we are. But if the movie is often unbearably grim, the glimmers of hope appear brighter because of it. Pattinson carries the movie as a disturbed man who is not very smart but seems driven by an essential goodness. He wins Best Actor in my alternate universe, and he’s becoming one of the most interesting actors in film.