lisa cholodenko's " high art , " is an intelligent , quiet drama . 
its strongest quality , aside from the top-notch central performances , is the perceptive way in which the film , also written by cholodenko , observes its characters . 
they are all flawed people , some more troubled than others , but they are not judged . 
judging the characters in this picture would be a creative misstep on the filmmakers' parts , because no one , no matter how bad off they are , deserve to be negatively judged if they are involved in some serious problems that they cannot break free of . 
syd ( radha mitchell ) , a 24-year-old woman living with her longtime boyfriend james ( gabriel mann ) , has recently been awarded an ideal job at the high-profile photography magazine , " frame . " 
she very much enjoys where her career is headed , but is often not taken very seriously by her managers , who are always giving her petty jobs to do , when she knows she could be doing more important things . 
one night , while taking a bath , syd notices a leak coming from the apartment above hers , so when she goes up there to inform them of it , she meets lucy beliner ( ally sheedy ) , a thin , worn-out , and unhappy woman , who lives with her drug-addicted german girlfriend , greta ( patricia clarkson ) , a pathetic former actress who is usually so out-of-it that she often is in and out of conciousness . 
syd quickly strikes up a conversation with lucy , and discovers that she used to be an acclaimed photographer ten years before . 
lucy claims she doesn't want to get back into the profession , but syd manages to convince the " frame " editors to do a piece on her work . 
all the while , syd begins to grow deep feelings for lucy , even though she has never previously been attracted to a woman , and lucy starts a battle with her personal demons . 
 " high art , " is such an effective motion picture because it is never suger-coated or idealized , but instead an honest and convincing portrait of a handful of unhappy people whose lives are going nowhere , while syd's luck begins to rise . 
the film in no way is about lesbianism , but about love , which was a refreshing change of pace from the usual stereotypical portraits of homosexuality . 
as lucy and syd grow closer and closer together , we really do believe that they are falling in love with each other , even if the relationship might be doomed . 
with this picture , ally sheedy's star has risen once again , thanks to her touching , nearly flawless portrtayal of lucy , a woman who , in the course of a decade , has found her life consumed almost entirely by drugs , which has taken away her once-blossoming career . 
her characted really is tragic , and one particular scene involving lucy and her mother , in which lucy admits to her that she has a drug problem , and her mother matter-of-factly responds by saying she can't help her , is heartbreaking . 
although not autobiographical , sheedy has had drug problems in her past , and i suspect she brought that knowledge of already being in lucy's footsteps to her role . 
also very good is radha mitchell as syd , who previously starred in the slight 1997 australian comedy , " love and other catastrophes , " wh caught me by surprise with her performance . 
easily being able to pass as christina ricci's older sister , mitchell obtains the same natural charisma that has made ricci so popular recently . 
as accurate as almost every detail is in , " high art , " i wish the relationship had been more tightly written involving syd and james , who , played by gabriel mann , is left with a throwaway role . 
by the time he finds out about syd and lucy , he disappears from the film , and i wish there had been another scene where they confronted each other . 
this is a very minor fault , however , in a film that is full of riches . 
although many of the characters are stuck in a hopeless pit of despair , syd and lucy are intelligent people who recognize their problems . 
the character of dominique ( anh duong ) , the " frame " editor who decides to give syd a chance with her ideas , was also written to be far more mature than expected . 
and the one sex scene in the film was beautifully and originally done . 
for once , it did not invlove steaminess , or violent sexual activity , or gratuitous nudity , but focused on the actual characters , who love each other , and their insecurities involved in making the decision to actually have sex . 
 " high art , " which won the screenwriting award at the 1998 sundance film festival , marks the superior feature film debut of cholodenko , as well as sheedy's strongest , and best , role to date .