Last night I watched Akira Kurosawa’s film noir High and Low (1963), which was based on Ed McBain’s detective novel, King’s Ransom. The first part of the film is concerned with setting up the kidnapping and moral dilemma faced by the main protagonist Kingo Gondo. After the ransom has been paid, the rest of the film is devoted to the detective work that will bring the criminal to justice. In this sense, it is similar to Stray Dog in that it shows Kurosawa’s fascination with the intricacies of police work as we move step by step with the police as they draw closer to the capture of the kidnapper/murderer. However, since this is Kurosawa, there is more at play than a simple who dunnit. High and Low refers to the class status of the victim and criminal, Gondo lives high up on a bluff overlooking Yokohoma, while the under class toils in the valley below trapped in sweltering heat, while Gondo enjoys the high life in his air conditioned villa high above the city. But there is a distinction between Gondo and the other executives who force him out of his job, Gondo make the right moral decision to save the boy who is not his son and garners the respect of the public, furthermore, he is a craftsman who is drive to work and create quality shoes useful to society. The murderer is driven by a sense of outrage-why does Gondo get to live high above the bluff while he must toil away as a an intern in the valley below. We are never given the back story of the criminal who request to speak with Gondo before he is executed at he end-Kurosawa uses a sort of mirror technique in the window to show that their fates are intertwined as a sort of doppelganger like Yusa, the criminal, and Murakami, the cop, in Stray Dog. Gondo also came from humble beginnings and built himself up, but could have become resentful and negative like Takeguchi. In addition, it was interesting to see the use of heroin in the henchmen who Takeguchi kills by giving them pure heroin so that they overdose saving his alibi; this is where the film goes even lower. The café where the score takes place is a jazz joint full of foreigners-it is sort of shocking to see such a modern setting for a Kurosawa film since I have been watching so many period pieces in the last year. This criterion collection DVD has no special features, just a new transfer. Minor Kurosawa, but still interesting to watch.
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