High And Low

High and Low (Tengoku To Jigoku) (1963)

Runtime: 143 minutes

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Tatsuya Mihashi, Isao Kimura, Kyoko Kagawa

From: Toho

Last night I figured it was time to check out something on the Criterion Channel, a movie likely to earn a very high rating from me. High and Low (loosely adapted from an Ed McBain novel) does indeed deserve to be in the highest echelon as one of Kurosawa's best films.

The plot sounded simple enough: a rich businessman who is in the field of making womens' shoes has his chauffeur's son kidnapped by accident instead of his own but he still has to pay a huge ransom... which he is reluctant to do as he already has planned to use a large sum of cash to take over the company he's in. But in execution, the movie is excellent. What seems like the first 50 minutes is all but for one exception set in a house, mostly in one large room. That is never dull due to the story, blocking, performances, and more.

After that is the police procedural and I never lost interest there either. The kidnapper is rather intelligent with his plan but the cops are smart themselves and they do a lot of groundwork & examining clues to crack the case-this includes the early 60's version of forensics. There's a scene more than 10 minutes long where all the officers on the case are presenting the preliminary results of their own investigations to each other and it's all fascinating due to how this information is shown and how it all comes together; it was never dull for even a second. I was also happy to see that frequent Kurosawa actor Takashi Shimura had a small supporting role. Personally, the second half was as engrossing as the first; also, what an incredible final scene. More than one character changes on this almost 2 ½ hour journey that always had my attention. This even has a sort of horror sequence involving dead-eyed addicts in the slums of Yokohama which should be shown as an anti-drug advert.

Of course, what's in front of the camera is as impressive as what was behind the camera (the score, cinematography, framing, etc.) There are quality performances across the board; Toshiro Mifune is seemingly always the standout when he's the lead but I also have to give credit to Tatsuya Nakadai as the leader of the investigation. If you love Kurosawa but somehow haven't seen this... you need to rectify this problem.