High and Low
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Year Released: 1963
Rating: 2.0
Simple look at good and evil as a rich man (Toshiro Mifune, effective as a conflicted man who must choose between his money and a human life) has his chauffeur's son kidnapped and must give up his riches for the safe return of the child. Unexpectedly drops the drama of the Mifune character after the first hour wherein it becomes a tedious police procedural, as the police officers explain to their cadets - and the audience - the psychology of the criminal, the details of heroin use ... in other words, it does a lot more 'telling' than 'showing.' Kurosawa doesn't add much nuance or complexity to his characters, although his use of composition is (as always) virtually peerless (most noticeably in the first hour, where his action is confined to basically one room).
