KC Shawn

10/10

Spoilers

**Warning: I am not spoiling the plot but I'm mentioning some important scenes in this review so don't read it if you haven't watched High and Low (and please go see it as soon as possible).** I’m only at the beginning of my journey as a cinephile, and I’m afraid of looking like I’m trying too hard by giving High and Low a 10/10 rating, but honestly, I literally can’t find a single flaw in it. I think it’s truly the first time I’ve been this amazed by a director’s cinematic talent. Kurosawa grabs the viewer and throws them around with incredible mastery: the investigation is incredibly satisfying to follow, everything stacks up perfectly without ever feeling forced. There are several moments of tension where doubt creeps in purely thanks to the power of the images [spoiler](Shinichi’s second sudden disappearance, the kidnapper at the bar, etc.)[/spoiler]. The character development is striking, especially Gondo’s of course. It’s deeply human and perfectly illustrates Kurosawa’s message: the most human character in the film is the one who manages to detach himself from greed, especially financial greed. There are also several visually exceptional scenes: [spoiler]the colored smoke, the bar scene, the final conversation… but strangely enough, the one that struck me the most was one of the last: the kidnapper’s arrival at the vacation house.[/spoiler] It’s a fairly simple scene, and yet visually, I felt like it could have been shot in 2025 just by adding some colour. It shows just how extraordinarily talented Kurosawa was, managing to make a 62-year-old film feel so modern. And I could go on and on about Inspector Tokura's charisma or how important the police meeting scene is, but I'd go on too long, which just goes to show how much this film affected me.

CinemaSerf

0/10

I didn't take to this initially. The scenario reminded me a little of an episode of "Columbo" - a rather sterile, studio-set environment that came across as quite limiting. Once it gets going, though, it's one of the best crime thrillers I've seen in ages. It all centres around the kidnapping of a small boy for whom the anger-prone, shoe millionaire "Gondo" (a strong contribution from Toshirô Mifune) is supposed to pay a ransom of ¥30 million - a colossal sum. It turns out, though, that it's not his son who has been snatched - it's the child of his chauffeur. Why ought he to pay? Will he just get on with his impending company takeover or will he risk bankruptcy for the young "Shinichi"? This is a film split into three sections. The first deals with the decision making process around will he/won't he/why should he. Next, the police must try to apprehend this individual. This process is meticulously carried out and Kurosawa has chosen to immerse us in some of that detail, rather than just cursorily skip through it. This makes the whole detection process a much more interesting part of the film; allowing some aspects of the characterisation of the police officers to develop and also introducing some dark humour to the proceedings. Finally, we reach the denouement with it's own rather curious and not entirely explicable agenda. There's an element of "what would you do?", there's a grim depiction of a seamier side of Japanese (heroin-fuelled) culture that we seldom get to see and there is a rather starkly effective dose of humanity presented here as the story juggles aspects of human nature, nurture and good old fashioned greed in quite an effective fashion. It's based on an Ed McBain book (which I haven't read) but the entire project has been successfully subsumed into it's guest culture for a gripping and detailed mystery that flies by.

Zak_Jaggs

0/10

A well worked, high stake crime thriller. The stakes are deeply personal to our main characters and puts them in an impossible situation. The performances and direction are very solid, the story is engaging and ultimately, it's a simple yet enjoyable film. Kurosawa comments on modern corporate greed and poverty in post-war Japan, and he does it very well.