High and Low (Tengoku to jigoku)
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Synopsis
An executive of a Yokohama shoe company becomes a victim of extortion when his chauffeur's son is kidnapped by mistake and held for ransom.
Cast
- Toshirô Mifune
- Tatsuya Nakadai
- Kyôko Kagawa
- Tatsuya Mihashi
- Isao Kimura
- Kenjirô Ishiyama
- Takeshi Katô
- Takashi Shimura
- Jun Tazaki
- Yutaka Sada
Letterboxd User Reviews
4.6
258.3K
139.5K
116.2K
- Jan 31, 2022
everytime i watch a kurosawa movie i haven’t seen i’m all like “okay this is the best one” but this time i MEAN IT
KarstenMar 24, 2013Leave it to Kurosawa to make an hour of listing evidence and clues exciting. High and Low is tight, tense, and engaging, but what makes it so great for me is that Kurosawa (based on the book King's Ransom by Ed McBain) uses an almost Dante-like structuring of the three…
PTAbroDec 15, 2020Alfred Hitchcock who makes the best one-location films Bong Joon-Ho who masterfully tackles the social and economical gap in the society David Finche who makes the best crime dramas Legend Akira Kurosawa with sunglasses on and a thick American Matthew McConaughey…
DrStrange110 - Nov 6, 2021
"That house gets on your nerves. [It's] as if it's looking down at us." Akira Kurosawa was accused a number of times throughout his career of being one of the few Japanese filmmakers to be so popular and celebrated on the international stage because of how often he adapted…
Josh LewisMay 30, 2019Had the pleasure of watching this film for the first time on 35mm thanks to The Cinematheque in Vancouver. It was the first film in the series High Art Films Made from Pop Art Sources curated by Donald Brackett. Brackett intro'd the film. Great film by a great master.…
Sean BakerFeb 5, 2021A masterpiece of Noir/police procedural that spares not a single detail. This movie is part of a lineage of painstaking procedurals about the investigation of a crime that become a forensic examination of the society in which they occur. It goes M--->High and Low--->The…
Will Menaker - Aug 4, 2024
Everyone is out for my man Mifune when all he wants to do is make high-quality shoes
Patrick WillemsJun 30, 2025sat forward into the “locked in” position about 10 times
eddyburbackAug 10, 2025Now, I've heard of Parasite. But... pair o' shoes? really stunning procedural. love the way it aligns the police and media with the working class while still showing them as a mouthpiece and personal servant class of the rich; their work centers gondo because it's his…
demi adejuyigbe
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Top Reviews
- Platypus Lord lovedHigh and Low
A gripping thriller with interesting themes. Really transports you into this snapshot of a sweltering week in Yokohama. Everyone melts into their performances - feels like nobody is even acting. I loved the detailed, procedural crime investigation. While I forgot to pay attn to the photography,…
RayRay likedHigh and LowNot a love for me, but it was an incredibly made movie and definite proof that Kurosawa is the single greatest director ever. I liked the first half the most, think the tailing part was a drag, otherwise very good. Red beard, Ikiru, 7 samurai and this. Insane. 🕵️ scenes, great
anton chigurh likedHigh and LowA thrilling crime investigation solved piece by piece. I wouldn’t agree with the ratings by saying it’s one of the best films of all time. It’s not a complex film - it’s a fairly standard crime investigative story. Enjoyable, sure. But among the best of all time? Absolutely not.
- Will V. likedHigh and Low
For a movie made almost 60 years ago, I’d imagine this one inspired many crime/mystery films down the line. I watched on Max and despite it being black and white, the picture quality and cinematography is great. Really enjoyed this movie.
nevan lovedHigh and Lowa true classic, one of kurosawa’s non-feudal films and definitely one of his best. the camera-work and framing is astoundingly impressive, as are the performances, with a sharp and precise use of sound that elevates the experience. choreography and cinematography, hand-in-hand
Jacob Hall lovedHigh and LowInteresting take on wealth class. Even if you start off poor and become rich, the poor still hate you. Also shows off how time consuming clean police work is. Almost makes you want them to be dirty cops for once
- Matt Ortiz lovedHigh and Low
This is a master class in blocking and cinematography directed by the all time goat Kurosawa! Jumped to the top of my favorite of his works!
Mickerdoo likedHigh and LowInteresting moral dilemma with a seemingly unsolvable crime. Liked how they worked through the clues. Hard to sympathize with rich, though.
DarkStarSpace lovedHigh and LowWere the Coen brothers inspired by the mechanism of dumping the money in this? I feel like The Big Lebowski is a comedy version of it.
Atom Users Reviews
Metacritic
While not a masterpiece on par with Kurosawa's best work, High And Low is a fine example of his craft, and further proof that it's not a few masterpieces but the overall scope of a career that defines a great director.
Keith Phipps
The A.V. Club
This lesser known Kurosawa feature is worth a look, with outstanding performances and stunning cinematography.
David Parkinson
Empire
A sizzling, artistic crackerjack and a model of its genre, pegged on a harassed man's moral decision, laced with firm characterizations and tingling detail and finally attaining an incredibly colorful crescendo of microscopic police sleuthing.
A.O. Scott
The New York Times
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