Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low, which is more accurately translated to English as Heaven and Hell, was shot by Akira Kurosawa in the style of a Western noir detective film. It stars Kurosawa's frequent collaborator, Toshiro Mifune in the role of Kingo Gondo. Mifune's character Gondo is a financially successful shoe factory part owner involved in corporate takeover shenanigans. Gondo's personal resources, which have been stretched to the limit during his corporate maneuvering, become an even bigger issue for him when he becomes the target of a kidnapping ransom demand.

High and Low is considered a classic by many, but be warned it is not a film that offers a great deal of mental challenge or surprise. I was a little surprised by the Tokyo urban drug culture scenes, but the larger pleasures in High and Low are to be found in some of the performances. Toshiro Mifune shines here with his usual charisma.

High and Low's main plotline methodically reveals the story of a kidnapping, Gondo's varying responses to the kidnapping when it is discovered the kidnapper nabbed the wrong target, and the police diligently marching forward on their quest to apprehend the bad guy.

There are some striking and varied scenes, and interesting dialogue in High and Low, but at first I wondered if the entire movie might be played out in Gondo's living room. The story and major characters are first developed there for a very long while. Eventually the story does move out into the world and we find ourselves in a high speed train barreling down the tracks, and the movie opens up for some adventures around Tokyo.

This is Kurosawa and I suppose I should be speaking of the masterful storytelling, but High and Low is what it is, which is a film that is likely to feel a little too long and be a little less mentally provoking than many modern film viewers will wish for.

A serious weakness to the film for me was its ending. During High and Low's production, the contradictions between the wealthy and poor would have been more significant because of Japan's economic conditions at the time. Even knowing that context, the bad guy's monologue that concluded the film still seemed weak. It might have helped to be able to understand the language fully, instead of relying on subtitles. I was kind of relieved that the bad guy didn't turn out to be the illegitimate son of Mifune's character, or something wacky like that, as might have been expected in a modern day American film.

I am glad I finally watched High and Low after hearing about it for years. If you are a fan of Kurosawa and are also a film noir enthusiast, you will likely want to add this movie to your collection if you have not already acquired it. If you enjoy Toshiro Mifune, you will definitely not regret viewing High and Low. If you are looking for a fun and exciting Japanese movie because you just happen to like Japan or are studying Japanese, then there is a good chance you will want to dig around through some of the other reviews on the Savage Japan Movie Review site. Though skillfully produced, High and Low is a long film with a simple story that is not for everyone, and especially not for those mostly interested in modern era films.

Savage Japan Misc. Tidbit
Confusion
I was quite confused by a scene involving a coincidental meeting between Toshiro Mifune’s Kingo Gondo character and the bad guy. The scene seems only to serve the purpose of connecting things back to Mifune, and it provides an excuse to put Mifune’s character Gondo back in the mind of the viewer. That could be reason enough for the scene, but it seemed implausible and confusing. So much so that on my first viewing, I wondered if it was being suggested that the bad guy was secretly working for Gondo, which is not the case.

After stopping the DVD at that point and viewing the scene a few times before proceeding, it is obvious that there was no misdirection designed to purposely confuse. It is simply a coincidental event that the bad guy took advantage of. Maybe if I could understand Japanese well enough, this scene would have made more sense and been less confusing. Maybe there was more nuance to be perceived from the police officers who were monitoring the event, more nuance than the subtitles revealed.

Grasping at straws for a more substantial purpose to the scene, I can see how it shows the mind set and arrogance of the bad guy with him wanting to get close to Mifune's character. And the community or suburb they were in might have a small urban center that could have theoretically brought the two characters together with more probability than I imagine.

And of course, unbelievable coincidences are often what make a movie a movie. I still think the meeting needed to be set up differently, adding just a smidgen more plausibility.

Sorry for all the text on that one scene. I spent a lot of time trying to figure it out, so I couldn't resist writing about it. At any rate, it was educational for me.

For Japanese Language Students
There are many good conversations for picking out words and phrases in High and Low, but this is a film shot many decades ago, and if your interest is mainly language practice and absorbing more modern day cultural aspects of Japan, this would likely not be a top choice. I had fun with High and Low because of my curiosity in seeing Japan in the early 60’s. For example, the scene involving the old high speed train was not only interestingly shot, but it was also interesting for me to see the inside and outside of a high speed train from more than 50 years ago for comparison to the modern Shinkansen (bullet trains) of today.