Friday, December 10, 2010

Two Line Reviews - #134

Movie: Tengoku to jigoku (or) High and Low (1963)


Plot: A businessman goes to the extent of mortgaging his properties to get majority stakes of a company to prevent it from going into the hands of his unworthy peers. That is exactly when a kidnapper seeks ransom for kidnapping his son. When the kidnapper get to know he has kidnapped not his son but his chauffeur's son, the game gets interesting & the way the police solve makes this one of the very best investigation films.

Highlights:
  • To me, this one is the best work of Kurosawa! What a gripping narrative, what a clean & neat screenplay!
  • Toshiro Mifune,as the businessman has a limited role but performs wonderfully, but the stellar performances over the latter half of the film are from the graceful cop & the stylish villain.
  • There are a lot of touching scenes - the scenes where the entire family is in a catch-22 when the caller says he knows he has kidnapped the wrong kid & yet he demands ransom; and the final scene in the jail.
Lowlights:
Forget it. This one's clean as a hound's tooth!

My Rating: 9.7/10

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