elvircorhodzic HIGH AND LOW is a mysterious crime drama about an ambitious director of the company for the manufacture of footwear, who becomes the target of a madman. The film is loosely based on the 1959 novel "King's Ransom" by Ed McBain. This is a story about morality and character, in which the crime is reconstructed to the smallest detail.Mr Gondo is a wealthy industrialist who is contacted by a gang of kidnappers, who inform him that they've kidnapped his son. The crooks demand a huge ransom for the boy's return. However, They have, by mistake, kidnapped son of his driver. The moral and character of Mr. Gondo come into question...Mr. Kurosawa has put a huge moral dilemma for the main protagonist in this film. He has managed to show the two faces of a rich man, through an excellent direction, a constant questioning of character and a thorough investigation of the crime.The excellent topics is simply connected to each other. The story moves from a complex and anxious melodrama into a good detective thriller. The reconstruction of the crime is almost perfect, and Mr. Kurosawa takes us through frequent streets and remote locations. The scenery is a very good characterization is, as usual, almost perfect.Toshiro Mifune as Kingo Gondo is a man whose life plan has collapsed in one minute. He is forced to make difficult decisions. His moral and character nuances come to the fore in those moments. Mr. Mifune has offered a very convincing performance. Tatsuya Nakadai (Chief Detective Tokura) has almost managed to steal the show, as a capable, persistent and helpful detective. Kyōko Kagawa as Reiko Gondo is, above all, a mother and her performance corresponds to that fact. Tsutomu Yamazaki as Ginjirô Takeuchi is the main kidnapper. The envy and hatred are the drivers of his madness.This is a tense detective thriller and a good overview of film noir too.

sharky_55 Gondo is about to complete a corporate takeover of a large company, having acquired all the funds by placing everything he owns on the line. That is all placed on standby as a kidnapper calls asking for a ransom for his kidnapped son. He immediately agrees - what is money compared to his own flesh and blood? But the kidnapper has kidnapped the wrong boy, not Gondo's, but the son of his lowly chauffeur, Aoki. Suddenly all eyes turn back to Gondo. A moral dilemma for the ages - is this boy worth the same ransom? In High and Low, Kurosawa tackles how capitalism has a tendency to transform citizens, to elevate some and shunt off others, to create a breeding ground where morality and integrity are often brushed aside for material gain.As the title dictates, Kurosawa takes us from High to Low. The first third of the film takes place in Gondo's luxury, high-rise apartment, where in one wide shot towers over the rest of the town like a heavenly paradise. Here where we witness Kurosawa's mastery of the frame, his breathtaking blocking and composition. He does not need to push in for a close-up - the master shot reveals every character's actions and reactions in relation to each other. When that fateful ring of the phone sounds, they all flock to its source. Later, as they consider the moral dilemma of Gondo, Kurosawa arranges each body around and behind him, staging their surrounding of the figure theatrically, their eyes staring, judging. When he angrily refuses to bow to the whims of the kidnapper, Mifune walks across the frame and out of the group, facing away and shielding himself from their judgement, taking an eternity to even meet the eyes of Aoki. Yutaka Sadaias is the lowly chauffeur, who talks less with dialogue but with his body language, the way his profile seems to be ever drooping in misery and fear, staring at his shoes like he is unworthy to participate in the discussion on his own son's life. In the silence he slowly approaches Gondo, who swiftly walks away from him (but their eyes do meet for a split second, unavoidable), and then the camera pans ever so slightly and literally pushes Aoki out of the frame as though he is irrelevant. Then we have the middle, where the police procedural element takes over. We have the thrill of the cash drop-off on a speeding train, those repeated flashes of the boy and his captor, straining but unable to be discerned. And we have the first inkling of change from Gondo - symbolically he sits himself onto the ground (which is where he began) and uses his old tricks of the trade to help the police prepare the cases. Without this little segment it would be too easy for the officers to despise him (remembering that they too are living in the shadow of Gondo's wealth) but they begin to admire and respect his dedication, and in a stroke of poetic justice, so too does the public. We have the long meeting of the police where each part of the ongoing investigation is recapped in very fine detail. This has been criticised as slow and expository, completely negating the building tension, but it actually holds a much more important task. Interspersed with these updates are flashbacks showing the various officers interacting with the common folk - Kurosawa uses this as a way of slowly exploring the roots of the community and what makes it tick on. And so Gondo too follows suit, slowly losing his corporate mask, descending into menial housework, and in one poignant scene, wandering the streets he used to belong to, and gazing through the window at a small display of shoes. His roots. And then in the low we have where the kidnapper Takeuchi operates, in the slums where beggars and drug addicts flock to, and the frenetic, sweaty nightclubs where it becomes so easy to lose a tailed suspect. The way Kurosawa has engineering the movement of that scene is nothing more than marvellous - Takeuchi slipping in and out of the deep focus layers of the crowd, only briefly visible by his dark spectacles and the one red carnation, and the POV of the police trying desperately to keep track of him. And then as he wades through the slums to purchase heroin, we have a frightening scene where he approaches one particular addict. It is filmed from behind a window opening so we are mere helpless spectators, and Kurosawa has somehow perfected the lighting setup so the reflective surfaces of his glasses catch the key light in a way that lights up his eyes in the darkness like he is a panther in the night, slowly stalking his way towards the addict. It is breathtakingly terrifying and the first real moment where we come to terms with him being able to kidnap and threaten an innocent child (perhaps a tiny flaw being the newspapers segments which slightly dull the power of his eventual appearance). What we have here is a moral masterpiece woven into a crime story. In the beginning Gondo is haughty and proud - his company means the world to him, and he would not even think of humouring the kidnapper to throw it all away. But as he is pressured into paying the ransom he begins his slow descent down from heaven to hell (hence the original title) and realises that all he wants to do is make shoes his way. Though they are worlds apart Takeuchi has also begun the film in the same way, but has not changed by the end - wallowing in his pride, wanting no pity, still bitter about the state of affairs that forces him to glance at Gondo's high-rise heaven each day. But he is the one to commit the moral transgression, and he is the one to be punished for it.

Sergeant_Tibbs Even though Akira Kurosawa is mostly associated for his samurai classics, I'm really not a fan of them, besides his later opus Ran. I admire many of Kurosawa's techniques but I don't connect. High and Low is the first of his modern day films I've seen since Ikiru many years ago and although they're as respected but not as popular as his samurai films, I think I've found the niche where I love Kurosawa. The first hour is set in one place, boasting a riveting moral dilemma ripe for the textbooks. It's a fascinating psychological study to watch how protagonist Mr. Gondo's behaviour differs between the threat of holding his son hostage to the actual threat of holding an employee's son hostage, thanks to Toshiro Mifune's great performance. No matter what way the character plays it from there, the damage is already done and his vulnerability is revealed. It kind of makes you glad you aren't rich. This first half is ready for a stage adaptation and I wish it was the whole film as it relieves the tension mid-way. The rest of the film is a police procedural following the investigation to catch the extortionist. It's interesting and engaging but not quite as compelling. The film would have benefited from not skipping round its ensemble too much, especially after committing to Mr. Gondo at first so much. I would have also liked to have known more about the antagonist's motivation outside of a case of class jealousy, but I guess that was the point that the film was trying to illustrate. High and Low is still an essential entry in Kurosawa's canon, one that set the bar and foundation for cop thrillers to come.8/10

Adarsh_Kumar_Singh From start to finish, let me assure all of you, there is not one moment that is not engrossing for a true movie viewer. Akiro Kurosawa always does what he does best and this is no exception. Let me take you through the plot without getting into any spoilers.The first half or so shows us the high of the movie where emotions of a group of people inside a household takes turmoils. Our protagonist specially, his wife, more importantly his driver and of course the right hand man. How naturally those "meticulously to the point", emotions pour out is the master's work. He on the other hand is extremely well complimented by the actors. This first part to me in incomparable to any like movie situation I have seen earlier. In here we are shown that a top business man at that exact point of his high business life where he can control all, is informed that his child has been kidnapped. The kidnapper asks for an unimaginable sum of money. This unimaginable sum is the key to his future business success. The twist is, the kidnapper made a mistake and took the child's look alike friend, the driver's son instead. And thus starts a drama so well conceded, words, will be not enough to describe. I cannot say any more without taking away any thrill you may get when seeing this, so.... See for yourself.The low is the second part. This period can be best described as a thorough police work to catch the criminal ever documented onto a movie screen. Nothing is dramatic here, just routine, yet awe- inspiring. I found out the low was the longer period of the movie but was unable to find which is the better of the two.In the end it all comes down to haves and haves not, as seen through the eyes of a common man. Yet, the question is, did the common man do what was required, to get to the category of the haves. You can answer that once you have seen this ....The newcomers here like Tsutomu Yamazaki had a flowering career ahead after this. Tatsuya Nakadai, the perfect actor, did perfectly, the job of chief police investigator and planner. Nothing is required to be said about Toshirô Mifune. 10/10 is my verdict.