High and Low (Tengoku to jigoku, 1963)
Kurosawa Akira
Japan
143 mins, black and white, 2.35:1, monoaural Japanese (English subtitles), Criterion DVD
This is such a heavily praised film that I came to the DVD with high expectations. I walked away with mixed feelings. The story of the self-made footwear magnate Gondo (Toshiro Mifune), who faces a moral dilemma between paying a ruinous ransom to save the life of his chauffeur's little boy, and going broke, losing his possessions, and getting forced out of the company, promised a gripping tale.
The first hour of the film is magnificent. Almost entirely set in Gondo's living room, it sets the premise with few bold strokes, from which we learn about Gondo's gamble to take over the company. For this, he has mortgaged everything, up to and including a decorative clock (that chimes now and then throughout the entire film, as if to underscore the passage of time). He then receives a phone call, a male voice informs him that his son has been kidnapped, and demands a ransom of 30 million yen. Soon, however, the mistake is discovered: the kidnapper has nabbed the wrong boy. When the police arrives, the cat and mouse game with the kidnapper begins. This is the hour where Kurosawa tightens the screws of suspense with every scene. Marvelously shot using the full capabilities of the widescreen, he positions every character carefully, almost at the very edges (this seems to be a favorite technique with him), to highlight the agony of the father, the suffering of Gondo and his family, and the desperate attempts of the police to help.
Once the exchange is made, however, the film sort of degenerates into a common thriller, with the police basically trying to hunt down the kidnapper on the dubious foundation of their sympathy for Gondo. Although Inspector Takuro (Tatsuya Nakadai) is superb, and despite the cameos by Kurosawa regulars, and my favorites, Takashi Shimura (Police Director) and Ko Kimura (Detective Arai), this part was considerably weaker than the first. For one, we have the uninteresting malcontent medical student, who naturally wears dark sunglasses, and visits, like a regular, the underbelly of the city. I did not particularly enjoy Kurosawa's apocalyptic depiction of the slums. Too grotesque to be believable, especially with all those junkies squatting everywhere and moving like ghosts. Very modern for theater, somewhat less so for cinema. I enjoyed the thoroughness of the police investigation and their ability to cooperate with the press. Refreshing, especially after seeing one too many films with bumbling detectives or malicious journalists.
The one thing I didn't get, was the ending. Was I supposed to sympathize with Takeuchi (Tsutomu Yamazaki)? Was his "hell" enough reason to depose Gondo from his "heaven"? Gondo seemed somewhat depressed and moved by Takeuchi's rambling confession (Kurosawa's use of reflections in this scene is very skillful), but I was mostly annoyed. He was too stupid to get caught as a dilettante, and too weak to bear the responsibility when he tried suicide. Also, Gondo was certainly the wrong man to hate: he's a self-made success story, starting as an shoemaker apprentice to rise to the top executive level. Certainly not one born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Takeuchi, on the other hand, is a medical student and although he does inhabit a veritable rat hole, there's no reason why he should not succeed if he tries. Unfortunately, the only thing he can envision is to steal money from someone better than himself. A despicable character. I am not sure Kurosawa's intention was to portray him like that.
The Criterion DVD has an excellent transfer and is in the original Tohoscope aspect ratio. The sound is a bit uneven, and barely audible in some of the quiet scenes. All dialogue, however, is audible and crisp. I have two complaints about the DVD. First, why isn't the title translated? Or the credits? That's ridiculous, they did not even bother to translate the title. Maybe they could not choose between HIGH AND LOW (the Westernized version) and HEAVEN AND HELL (the literal translation), but they should have translated something. The other grips is the total lack of extras. There's nothing on the DVD, not even a theatrical trailer. This being one of the expensive Criterion DVDs, I don't see how they could have done this with a straight face. I guess they realize there's entirely too many of morons, like me, out there, who would buy a good transfer of a Kurosawa film regardless of extras, even if it is overpriced. Oh well.
March 28, 2001. BLS