The film "High and Low" by the famous Japanese director Akira Kurosawa (1910-1998) stars Toshirô Mifune in the role of wealthy and ambitious businessman Kingo Gondo. The film starts with a business meeting where he and the other executives of a large shoe manufacturing company are quarreling about how to run the firm; they are plotting against one another to take control. As the other men are leaving Gondo's house, he receives a telephone call about his small son -- who has just run through the house with another small boy, both in cowboy hats and shooting toy guns.
The call informs Gondo that his son has been snatched, and is being held for ransom. However, Gondo quickly learns that the kidnapper has mistakenly taken the other child, the son of his chauffeur. The kidnapper says he doesn't care if he has the wrong child, he will kill him anyway unless an extraordinarily large ransom is paid. Gondo says he won't jeopardize his business dealings: which would be necessary to come up with such a huge sum. Thus the first part of the film concerns Gondo's moral struggle to decide whether to pay the ransom or not. Once that dilemma is resolved, however (and I won't spoil by telling how) there is a remarkable and highly successful switch from a character drama to a police procedural, including a wonderful police chase through the dance halls and drug dens of Yokohama, and a suspenseful ending.
This film was released in 1963, following some of Kurosawa's other famous films such as Rashomon (1950), Yojimbo (1961), and Seven Samurai (1954). If you are a film buff you probably know at least some of these films: he made a very large number of them, and was a model for many other directors both in Japan and in the West. I've been a Kurosawa fan for a long time, and though I'm sure I had seen this one before, I didn't remember it in detail and quite enjoyed watching the drama that's suspenseful and also full of wonderfully realized characters. Quite a few Kurosawa films are currently available on streaming if you are intrigued.
Now that August is here, I need a new project for reading and watching, and I think I’ll try to revisit some of my Japanese favorites and do some new reading/watching in Japanese literature and film.
Review © 2023 mae sander
My familiarity with Kurosawa doesn't go much beyond The Seven Samurai and Ran. This sounds like an interesting recommendation -- thank you!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of any of these films, but I look forward to more of your reviews this month.
ReplyDeletei've always had a fascination with Japanese culture starting in childhood when I used to watch The Samurai on tv. Shintaro was my hero!
ReplyDelete