Thursday, December 7, 2017

High and Low

After just having secured the funds for a takeover of his shoe company, a businessman (Toshiro Mifune) is torn at having to pay the ransom when his son is kidnapped from their hilltop mansion. Matters become even more cloudy when it comes to light that his chauffer’s son and not his own has been taken, and the local police department launches a major dragnet in order to trap the killer. Kurosawa’s High and Low, from an American crime novel by Ed McBain is a measured, sporadically captivating police procedural, unsurprisingly incredibly photographed with Mifune unfortunately ultimately relegated to a minor role.
*** out of ****