High and Low (1963)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

High and Low (1963) – A. Kurosawa

Plausibly there shouldn’t be as many 5-star Kurosawa films as there seem to be.  However, High and Low (Heaven and Hell in the original Japanese) has to be included in the list.  One of the handful of modern day films in his oeuvre, Tengoku to Jigoku is ripped from a police procedural by Ed McBain and is as exciting as any AK film gets.  The film breaks roughly into three parts:  1) a serious drama in which businessman Toshiro Mifune tries to defend his way of making shoes by gaining control of the company, in direct conflict with other scheming executives and his disloyal assistant, but is suddenly faced with the fact that he might have to pay all of the necessary funds as ransom when his chauffeur’s son is kidnaped in place of his own son;  2) a fast-paced investigation by the entire police force led by Inspector Tetsuya Nakadai that eventually frees the boy and identifies the killer; 3) the final trap and capture of the killer, Tsutomo Yamazaki (later Goro in Tampopo), who stalks the seedy underbelly of Yokohama in mirrored shades.  Kurosawa stages it all in widescreen with some incredible compositions that make the most of the bigger canvass (including wide open landscapes as well as a bunch of cops cramming the screen).  As always, viewers are encouraged to see the drama not only from an objective outside perspective but also from the point of view of other characters who are party to the action (in this case, we see the police view of the actions taken by Gondo the shoe executive as well as hearing what the public thinks).  In Kurosawa, there is always an acknowledgement of the multiple ways of seeing reality.  As it should be.