Criterion Collection: High & Low [Blu-ray] [1963] [US Import]

One of Kurosawa’s numerous masterpieces. I won’t go into the plot, except to say that it’s a police procedural, involving a botched kidnapping. The first half of the film is largely confined to one location, and features incredible mise en scene, with nimble camerawork capturing the action in brilliantly executed widescreen compositions. During the second half, the film busts out into the mean streets of Fukuyama (including a tense set-piece shot on a train), as the police close in on the perpetrator. The moral dilemma at the core of the film is a clear expression of Kurosawa’s humanist impulses. An absolute classic.

The smoke that is emitted finally that can be seen by the 'searchers' of the child, is one of the greatest surprises on modern day cinema! What a great gag! Very inventive in camerawork (especially when the prison door comes down that has one hole in the middle where we can view the suspect through and makes it look like an early cinema iris out! Wonderful stuff. Great storytelling and acting makes this film a must see for Kurosawa fans, as well as The Bad Sleep Well. Two of the best crime thrillers ever!

Deconstructing Japan's social decay(circa. 1963) from the top down, in glorious widescreen black & white. A rather thin release for BFI but the print is excellent as is the transfer. The subtitles are somewhat larger than needed and are placed within the widescreen frame. Options for size and placement should be the standard now, but hey, who cares... we should be grateful there is even hard copy still available.

Nothing quite prepares you for this carefully researched, tightly scripted, superbly acted and very unusual Japanese crime thriller. It shows all of the stage managed filming for which Kurasawa and other Japanese directors were so famous and which so many Western films lack and I feel this is the films strength. Mifune plays out of type as a hard ambitious businessman who sees all of his dreams collapsing before him. The cops are simply brilliant and the strict social stereotyping of Japanese society is laid bare. A must for Mifune fans.

A really good piece of entertainment. The film has left a big impression on me. A first part of the film takes place in the home of the main character and it felt like watching a play on stage. The second part of the film deals with more action and leads to a tragic climax. It will be one of my favourite film memories.

80%

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Wow...one of the most compelling, exciting crime films I've seen in a long time