High and Low (1963) by Akira Kurosawa – (7/10)

It seems like an odd thing to say considering Kurosawa’s legacy (and the fact that I consider him to be overrated, good but overrated), I do think that High and Low is a bit of an underrated movie. It is among his best works (and better than many famous works) but it doesn’t seem to be quite as highly regarded or quite as famous, maybe because it doesn’t have samurai in it?

It plays out as an excellent ransom/ detective story in which a companies executive (played by Toshirō Mifune) son gets kidnapped and a ransom for him is demanded at the exact same time that he needs the money to complete a buyout or else he will loose everything. The movie centers on both the decision that he has to make as well as the police’s chase for the culprit. Kurosawa was a bit obsessed with getting things right so it is wonderfully shot, the moral dilemmas get handled in an interesting way, the chase is exiting but what makes the whole truly great is the ending. Where the victim and the culprit are confronted and we find out about his motives. It is one of the best things that Kurosawa has made in my opinion.