Friday, October 18, 2013 7:00 pm
Japanese Society
333 E 47th St, New York, NY
**Introduced by series curator Kyoko Hirano, followed by a reception.
1963, 143 min., 35mm, B&W, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Akira Kurosawa. With Toshiro Mifune, Kyoko Kagawa, Tatsuya Nakadai, Isao Kimura, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Tatsuya Mihashi.
Akira Kurosawa’s dynamic yet humanist films became immortal thanks to Richie’s definitive book The Films of Akira Kurosawa (University of California Press, 1965; revised in 1984), in which Richie discusses Kurosawa’s powerful cinematic styles and his ethical concerns. Repeatedly cited as one of the greatest police procedurals of all time, High and Low, based on Ed McBain’s novel King’s Ransom, puts Kurosawa’s masterful control of pacing and composition on full display–starting with a claustrophobic first half that slowly boils with increasing pathos and moral complexity until it explodes into an action-packed second half that highlights the tensions brought out by class conflict while delivering a thrilling manhunt. Toshiro Mifune offers a typically remarkable performance as Gondo, a wealthy executive who is unexpectedly caught in the middle of a kidnapping ransom case that stands to ruin him, while a graceful Tatsuya Nakadai, as Chief Detective Tokura, leads a memorable supporting cast of detectives and police who sweat and search for the anonymous kidnapper in the slums below.
Donald Richie on High and Low: “A morality play in the form of an exciting thriller. A self-made man (Mifune) is ruined by a jealous nobody (Yamazaki in his first important screen role) but goes on to do the right thing and in the end the camera observes more similarities than differences between the two. With a memorable mid-film climax on a high-speed bullet-train.”
For more information, please visit:
http://www.japansociety.org/event/high-and-low