CRITERION: HIGH AND LOW
In 1963, Akira Kurosawa was at his absolute peak, crafting masterpiece after masterpiece in an unprecedented body of work over a ten year periodnearly a film a year, almost every single one of them now considered classics of the cinema. Staring in 1950: Rashomon; Ikiru; I Live in Fear; Seven Samurai; The Lower Depths; Throne of Blood; Hidden Fortress; Bad Sleep Well; Yojimbo; Sanjuro. It is a staggering period of artistic output.
Many consider it to have peaked with 1966s Red Beardand here, with High and Low, the film he made just before it, we witness Kurosawas cinema just about to reach that summit.
It is amazing to see how many films owe their existence to this one, from Seven to Ransom, to just about any film involving a kidnapping and police procedural, be it All the President's Men or Zodiac. Its tense plotting and ingenious use of suspense devices has become the norm today, but there is still the feeling of personality and unpredictability that makes this film all the more watchable. In Kurosawas cinema, performance, cinematography and editing all reach their peak here, but keeping them strictly in the service of the plot and not drawing attention to themselvesfor all its melodrama and flair, the film looks like it is made in a surprisingly simple manner.
Like most of Kurosawas films, the concept of dualism is prominent, and like Ikiru this is expressed by two different narratives split over the same storyline. In the first, a kidnapper targets the son of a wealthy businessman, played by Toshiro Mifune, but accidentally abducts the son of his chauffeur insteadthe kidnapper decides he wants the ransom anyway, a ransom that will utterly ruin Mifune, which presents him the dilemma of sacrificing his entire livelihood to save someone elses child. Here the film is quiet, tense, intimateKurosawa uses the widescreen composition to terrific effect, highlighting empty spaces between people, or compressing them together in the cramped rooms as the characters remain trapped in the hilltop mansion. The film takes on a startling new life as Mifune and the undercover police must confront the kidnapper onboard a speeding trainfilmed with handheld cameras and over a dozen stationary cameras all filming in one take on a real bullet train, the sequence is one of the most exciting and dazzling in all of Kurosawas career.
The second half of the film then shifts gears completelytossing aside Mifunes protagonist, we move to the police side of things as the authorities track down the kidnapper in a game of cat and mouse. Here the film moves quicker and becomes more stylish, and more abstracted as the hunt progressesfinally ending in what can only be called surreal horror. The film may have begun on the hilltop mansion, perched atop the town like heaven, but by the end of the film we have descended to the junkie-filled alleys of hell.
Kurosawas films had been heading in a rather dark direction for some years prior to thiseven Seven Samurai, for all its inspiring heroics, ends on a somber and surprisingly pessimistic note that hints at where Kurosawa was going, and this continued to grow in prominence through Throne of Blood and Yojimbo.
Here, Kurosawa gives us a film that ends on perhaps the darkest note of allsave perhaps for the downright nihilistic Ran. In High and Low, Kurosawa tackles the same subjects that one finds in virtually every single film of his: social injustice, class divide, mans mistreatment of man, our fleeting compassion for others, and the darkness of the human heart. And yet one senses that Kurosawa was no closer to finding an answer to why these problems continued to plague him and his countryor, perhaps, that he found an answer that depressed him.
In early films like One Wonderful Sunday, Drunken Angel and Ikiru, he dealt with these issues but, one gathers, ultimately concluded that people can improve if they believe in themselves, that change is possible, and that if we make an effort we can turn the world into a better place. After a decade of struggling with these issues, Kurosawas films became increasingly bleakthe naiveté of his youth began to give way to the tired soul of an older man who seemed to acknowledge wishful thinking for what it was.
He, of course, bounced completely in the opposite direction following thisRed Beard might not only be his best film, but it is also his most humanistic and most upbeat; it is practically sentimental. It is often seen as a reaction against High and Lowthat, no, Kurosawa must have thought, I cant accept that there is no hope for the world, I cannot believe in that. And yet this emotional flinch was precisely thatfor when Kurosawa returned to making movies sometime later, Dersu Uzala and Kagemusha seemed to draw the same uncomfortable conclusions High and Low did, and in Ran, it seems, Kurosawa finally gave in to total despair about the state of the world. Appropriately, the few films that followed Ran were retreats into the world of make-believe and childrenKurosawa could not bear reality any longer.
In High and Low he treats his view of the world not with the nihilistic despair of RAN, nor even the existential pessimism of Kagemusha, but rather in a bold manner that still was inquisitive and open minded and still allowed room for some rays of hope. The film ends with the most powerful final scene in any film of Kurosawas, as Mifune finally comes face-to-face with his enemyand as the curtain closes on the film, Mifune staring blankly at his own reflection, pondering what has transpired in the narrative, we have the reflection of Kurosawa too, paralyzed by his troubles.
Video: High and Low was originally one of the early films Criterion put on DVD, and it has not held up over the years. With this new transfer, a decade of negligence is rectifiedthe transfer is sharp and detailed, and the blacks are rich. It does however, seem like there is a bit too much contrastI noticed the same issue on their re-transfer of Yojimbo last year. At the same time, this probably does better emulate the more luminant quality that a projected print would have. The only complaint I have is that, like the original disk, the aspect ratio is wrongit is slightly cropped on either side. The problem, I think, stems from the fact that High and Low was filmed in an aspect ratio wider than 2.35, but most prints could not display this ratio and so were printed cropped to 2.35. Toho, for example, did their own DVD release in the wider aspect ratio, which can also be seen on the trailers on the second disk in this setToho may have based their transfer off some sort of pre-downcoversion master in their vaults, while Criterions source was merely a fine grain master positive, in other words, a master release print in 2.35. Its only a minor issue, however, as the cropping is indeed very slight, however once in a while one gets the sense that things are a little too cramped. Nonetheless, this transfer is still first-rate.
Audio: The audio is presented in its original four-track surround, a terrific treat, and sounds remarkable.
Extras: Criterion have once again honored a film deserving of respect. A booklet collects essays and writings on the film from leading film scholars, and is a great read. Aside from that, Stephen Prince, author of the magnificent The Warriors Camera, also provides a commentary on the film. If youve seen any of Criterions other Kurosawa disks youll know what to expect; though perhaps a bit dry, Prince is filled with insights and makes for an informative listen. A 37 minute documentary on the making of the film is found on disk two, as part of the series It is Wonderful to Create; featuring the original cast and crew, its a terrific look at the history behind how the movie was made. There is also a newly conducted interview with the actor who played the kidnapper, a nice bonus. One of the most interesting things is a 30-minute interview with Toshiro Mifune, from a Japanese talk-show around the late 70s or early 80s. Its interesting not for anything in particularMifune does not discuss any of his films with Kurosawabut simply because interviews with Mifune are quite rare; this is, in fact, the first one I have seen. Trailers and TV spots round out the diskthe Japanese trailer in particular is of interest, for it contains the wider aspect ratio and the only surviving footage of the films alternate ending.
Criterion have done another first-rate job on a first-rate film. Aside from some minor quibbles about the transfer, which is terrific in any case, this is a flawless set that will delight fans of Kurosawa and introduce a magnificent film to new audiences.
rating: 5