24 - High and Low

[captainofbeef]

[ie]

It seems like most of Criterion's older releases are like this. Bare-bones with a transfer that's not 100%. At least it sports a hefty $35.99 price tag at Amazon.


I've really only seen 35 minutes of High and Low, but at around the 20 minute mark, the movie went from seeming quite conventional to being "woah, that was something completely different." I'm having the slightest bit of trouble getting through it, though, because how many times has this theme been done before? But I should have it finished up tonight, maybe. (We'll find out on the third, when it's due.)

Oh yeah, and I'm going to have to complain about the title again...
It was originally called Tengoku to Jigoku, which if you've seen Jigoku (Hell) like I would like to sometime, then you'd know that it's not an accurate translation. I guess it's a more unique title than Heaven and Hell. But it's just this whole weird thing where, when titles are translated into English and aren't translated correctly, they'll still have the original language title in the background, and then act like "oh yeah, Tengoku to Jigoku translates to High and Low." Confusing.

[ie]

Finished!


I felt this movie was definitely at its best in the middle.

SPOILER: Click to show

The introduction was decent enough, but it just was not that memorable. Later on, you find out that the introduction was shown just to throw you off track, but that was an interesting little twist.

As I mentioned in my last post, well here specifically, as soon as you find out that chauffeur's son was kidnapped, the movie hits its stride. It's great to see a movie, for once, in which the police aren't too stupid, but don't know everything either. (Law and Orders, I'm looking at you.)

Unfortunately, toward the end, things just go downhill. No pun intended. Sure, it's a descent into the mad world of drugs and sin and bad things, but it just felt like Kurosawa was stepping into unfamiliar territory, because things were absurd, plans were kind of half-assed, and it just didn't turn out well.

And of course, everything gets neatly finished up in the end, but that was decent at least.

High and Low is actually a really great showcase of Japanese movie acting, and not just on Toshiro Mifune's part either.

Mifune doesn't act over-the-top crazy, and additionally, he's actually quite believable in his role. Tatsuya Nakadai (the guy from Sword of Doom among others) is equally as believable in his role as chief detective, which I think is the most vital role in this movie. With these two veteran Japanese actors on board, and especially with this being an example of good Japanese acting in action, you'd think, oh, where's Takashi Shimura (the guy from Ikiru)? Well, don't worry, because he makes a decent cameo, says a few lines and such.

Unfortunately, toward the end of the movie, things start to fall apart in a bad way. I mean, it's not that big of a deal if you're just there to watch how the story unfolds, but it just isn't as strong as most of the rest of the movie.


I give it eight glowing Kurosawa buttons out of ten...

[Clark Nova]

i actually loved the sequence near the end when the cops are tailing the kidnapper through the seedy sections of the city. i thought kurosawa nailed the gloomy, smoky, seedy atmosphere of night clubs and drug houses. and the final jailhouse confrontation between mifune and the kidnapper is just outstanding.

[ie]

Oh, nice, you saw it.

I'm not 100% familiar myself with seedy night clubs and drug houses, but that whole part where the police were tailing the kidnapper just seemed off to me. I just couldn't believe it.

[Clark Nova]

hey, i don't know what japanese night clubs and slums circa 1960 were like either, but i loved how they were portrayed, with the jazzy music, the smoke, the use of shadows, the camera angles...i'm just a fan of moody atmosphere in movies. that's why blade runner's one of my absolute favorite movies and why i've discovered my love for film noir.