‘Highest 2 Lowest’ is a strange riff on Kurosawa’s original

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The first act of Akira Kurosawa’s “High and Low” is nothing short of masterful. Kurosawa creates a compelling chamber drama, entrapping us in a Yokohama penthouse as we are forced to watch Kingo Gondo (Toshiro Mifune, “Seven Samurai”) as he struggles with balancing the massive moral weight of a demanded ransom. Kurosawa’s composition, especially the blocking of the actors, is meticulous and claustrophobic, resulting in stakes that feel enormous without anyone stepping foot out of the penthouse.

On the other hand, the first act of the English-language remake of Kurosawa’s film, “Highest 2 Lowest,” is the opposite. Director Spike Lee takes us on a sprawling trek through New York City, far removed from the confined penthouse overlooking Yokohama. We follow David King (Denzel Washington, “Gladiator II”) on his daily routine throughout the city: dropping off his son at camp, stopping in at his record label and arriving home for lunch with his wife. Then, King receives a phone call demanding a ransom, the first echoes of Kurosawa’s original film now on the screen. Just like Gondo, King now has a moral weight that traps him inside. However, the tense presence of suffocation, restlessness and claustrophobia of the original just isn’t there.

When it comes to remaking a film, there are two paths that a filmmaker can take. The first path is to mimic, mirror and recreate every aspect of the original film. The second path is to use the original film as a template to introduce a unique voice that reimagines the original, transforming it into something fresh and timely. Unfortunately, Lee chose to follow both paths in “Highest 2 Lowest,” and it shows, resulting in a mediocre replication of the original. The aforementioned penthouse scenes are only one example — these scenes lack the heavy tension present in Kurosawa’s version of the film. However, when Lee instead uses the original as a frame for a contemporary perspective, opting to create a film about the value of attention rather than social inequality, that’s where he succeeds.

The premise is essentially the same as the first film: A wealthy business executive is on the cusp of taking over a company when, out of nowhere, his son is kidnapped and held for ransom — a ransom high enough to ruin the executive’s fortune if paid. The twist happens when it is discovered that the kidnapper mistakenly took the child of the executive’s personal chauffeur instead, creating a much more complicated dilemma. Both Kurosawa and Lee’s films draw from Evan Hunter’s original novel, “King’s Ransom,” but what matters most is how both filmmakers approach what comes next.

For Kurosawa, what comes after is an intense procedural that spans all of Tokyo. The narrative departs from Gondo, shifting to the police department, spearheaded by Chief Detective Tokura (Tatsuya Nakadai, “Harakiri”), as they search for the kidnapper behind the ransom plot. Lee, on the other hand, takes the opposite approach. The police department in “Highest 2 Lowest” is fodder in figuring out who the kidnapper is. Instead, it is King himself who solves the mystery. In fact, the police in this film are incredibly generic in comparison to Kurosawa’s original — they’re robotic and antagonistic, just like how the police are portrayed in any other thriller. Perhaps Lee intentionally pulled the narrative away from the police department as a statement of how incompetent the NYPD is. Why change such a large aspect of the original otherwise? The answer is clear — Lee wanted to spark commentary about the ineffectiveness and hostility of the police force.

Speaking of the narrative change, if there had to be an actor who could rival Mifune and his intensity it’s Washington and his charisma. Each of them approach the central role uniquely, with Mifune’s approach being more focused on internal contemplation. He distances himself from and turns his back on those around him, his face marked with agony and distress caused by his inner turmoil. As for Washington, his approach to King is marked by external confrontation. He lashes out at the police, he lashes out at his chauffeur, he lashes out at his son — he even lashes out at himself. These methods of soul searching make sense given their place in the narrative — Mifune’s Gondo internalizes it, which directs the police to do the work, while Washington’s King externalizes it, spurring on his larger role in finding the culprit. Comparing these actors and their styles side-by-side is a fascinating study in how emotional struggle can be portrayed. Two masters of the craft at work. 

Beyond the inherent parallels between the two films, “Highest 2 Lowest” has some weird creative choices of its own. For a film that centers a kidnapping and ransom, the film’s score does not reflect these stakes at all — it’s overly dramatic to the point of being a disservice to the film. A much better score would either be more suspenseful or rooted in hip-hop, given King’s line of work. But instead, we have a score whose obnoxious presence undercuts all the tension in a scene.

On the topic of bewildering musical creative choices, there is a whole A$AP Rocky music video in the film. I’m not joking. If you’re wondering where in the film Lee utilizes his signature double dolly, it is here. Not only is the music video’s presence in the film bizarre, but it is also placed directly after a court scene. On top of this, the movie is littered with messy editing. There are cuts that make no sense, the aforementioned score is mixed louder than the dialogue at several points and — my personal favorite — a ridiculous wipe transition, which feels like it came out of PowerPoint, is used not once, but twice.

In “High and Low,” the title itself carries layers of meaning, pointing to the film’s exploration of the highs and lows of moral integrity and the relationship between Gondo and the kidnapper. Mainly, though, “High and Low” refers to the film’s commentary about social inequality, moving from the literal penthouse on a hill to the underground slums and exploring how class divisions affect Gondo and the kidnapper’s trains of thought.

On the other hand, while it does share similar themes, “Highest 2 Lowest” introduces an entirely new discussion unique to today’s social media age — that is, the value of attention. From King’s son being deeply affected by backlash on social media to King worrying that one wrong move can lead to negative press to the kidnapper’s motivation being their desire to be recognized by King, everything in “Highest 2 Lowest” ultimately ties back to how we value attention. Lee essentially suggests that if there may be one asset that holds more monetary value than money itself, it is having all eyes on you. As King himself clearly states in the film, “Attention is the biggest form of currency.”

Even though it can function as a standalone work, the truth is that “Highest 2 Lowest” works better as a companion piece. Yes, the two films spark different discussions, with Kurosawa’s original acting as a commentary on the destructiveness of economic inequality and Lee’s remake acting as a commentary on the worth and dangers of attention in the age of social media. Yet they still have much to share in conversation with one another. With remakes it will always be impossible not to bring up the original, and even more impossible not to compare the two. It’s merely the fate — or rather, the curse — that comes with remaking beloved pieces of cinema. It makes sense why “High and Low” was remade; it provides an excellent frame for commentary while hiding under the guise of a crime thriller. But while Kurosawa’s classic is a masterpiece, “Highest 2 Lowest” transforms it into a fascinating yet puzzling, perplexing yet compelling, Spike Lee joint.

Daily Arts Writer JC Rafal can be reached at rafaljc@umich.edu.

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