High and Low (1963)

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Tishiro Mifune

****1/2

High and Low may have not added a term to the film industries lexicon but its abundantly clear what an influence it has had on so many films since 1963. Additionally, the similarities it has with films that weren't necessarily as a result of High and Low's influence simply shows how compelling and perfect the story is. In other words, Kingo Gondo (Tishiro Mifune) meets with his colleagues and refuses to make a deal with them and they leave disappointed. Shortly thereafter, Gondo receives a phone call revealing that his son has been kidnapped. A refusal to a deal, followed by a vengeful crime perhaps... I immediately thought of The Godfather.

Anytime a review opens with comparisons to The Godfather, I know I'm about to discuss a good one. Now of course, High and Low likely had no impact on Mario Puzo's story, but as I mentioned, its the structure and tension that makes both stories successful that I appreciated. As it turns out in High and Low, however, the kidnapper didn't kidnap Gondo's son at all, but, by mistake, kidnapped his friend. No matter to the kidnapper however as he still demands that Gondo pay the 30 million yen to keep his chauffer's son alive. This great twist to the normal police procedural really sets this film apart and creates a character struggle that is brilliantly portrayed by Mifune. He's an actor whom I've seen play a Samurai, and that's about it. Taking him out of that setting in making him a well-to-do business man with a family, a career and a lifetime of hard work to think about really showed me a range of abilities I wasn't expecting going into this film.

The opening hour of this movie is a masterfully suspenseful waiting game as Gondo, his wife, his aide, his chauffer (the kidnapped boy's father) and the police wait for instructions and Gondo wieghs the pros and cons of paying the ransom. From one master to another, the scene is very Hitchcockian in style and story. Not until the fifty-five minute mark of the film (with very few exceptions) do we leave the living room of Gondo's home. We, like Gondo, are completely at the mercy of the kidnapper and not until he makes his next move, can we make ours. The film is so compelling, all while staying put, I was almost disappointed when the film shifted gears and left the house. It never ceases to fascinate me how entertaining a film can be as it relies solely on dialogue. High and Low isn't a complicated story and its nothing I haven't seen before so what I was hearing wasn't so interesting that I couldn't get off the edge of my seat. Its the complexity of the characters, both those we've met and those we've only heard about that makes everything work so well.

The second half of this film all but abandons Gondo and focuses on the police investigation as they try to track down a kidnapper who thought of everything. There were aspects of this part of the film that I didn't immediately buy into and at one point began to thing it was losing its direction. However, Kurosawa structures the story so well that the story's direction is always motivated. I had a hard time accepting that as the police investigated, every crime was turning up... kidnapping, murder, drugs, theft... but that is really what made this (kind of) an episode of Law and Order. Before criticizing this film for being nothing more than an episode of a show that just takes stories from the news... imagine those stories being directed by Kurosawa. Its pretty awesome.

The influence this film must have had is clear throughout the entire two and half hours. Things as little as the police recognizing the sound of a train over a recorded phone call brought to mind The Fugitive. Movies like The Sting and The Usual Suspects, while very different in story, have a very similar mood as it relies on its characters to move the story forward. High and Low is a police procedural but it is almost moreso a character piece. The combination of the two is rarer than one might think, especially when done this well.

If I have a criticism of this movie it could be the end. Its an ending that I actually liked a lot and there is a big part of me that's glad it ended the way it did, however, because it wasn't what I expected, there was also a part of me that was disappointed. That's really all I can say without ruining anything. In fact I've avoided a lot about this film in this review because its truely a film that you can do nothing but enjoy while watching. The less you know about it the better, but its also a film that can be enjoyed over and over again. Its not perfect, but its that good.