High and Low reviewed and decoded in 3 minutes!

High and Low--which, literally translated in Japanese means 'Heaven and Hell’--is a 1963 crime drama based on Ed Bains' 1959 novel 'King's Ransom.' The film stars the great Toshiro Mifune in one of his few non-samurai roles with Director Akira Kurosawa. Mifune is a shoe company executive at odds with a group of fellow executives who believes that the company should increase its profits by making trendier shoes that can wear out faster. Gondo disagrees with this idea and wants the company to keep making the expensive well-made shoes it is known for. Subsequently, Gondo receives a phone call from someone claiming to have his son. Earlier, Gondo's son and the son of his chauffeur had on costumes playing cowboy and Indian. The kidnapper tells Gondo that he wants a large sum of money in exchange for his son but paying the ransom will wipe out the money Gondo needs to buy controlling interest in the shoe company. Gondo is about to give in to the ransom when his son, Jun, comes in from playing outdoors. Gondo now figures that the ransom demand is a prank until he finds out that the kidnapper has the wrong kid; it is, in fact, his chauffeur’s kid who has been kidnapped! The caller wants Gondo to pay the ransom anyway. Now, Gondo faces a dilemma--when he thought that the kidnapper had his own son, paying the ransom was a no brainer; now, the kidnapper wants him to pay the ransom for someone else’s son. If he does pay the ransom, he will lose the shoe company to his enemies.

High and Low is from the director of Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Rashomon, The Hidden Fortress, Ran, and many other films that Hollywood remade from The Magnificent Seven, Last Man Standing, A Fistful of Dollars, and Star Wars.

Once again, Toshiro Mifune demonstrates his versatility by playing a businessman forced to decide between principle and personal gain. Akira Kurosawa does a great job in getting us to empathize with Gondo and his decisions. High and Low is also a very detailed procedural on criminal investigation. The cinematography in the film by Asakazu Nakai and Takao Saito captures the essence of the film’s title perfectly. I have this on DVD, and Criterion did a great job restoring it. I highly recommend this film.