High and Low-A Masterclass in Shifting Genres
High and Low is a film that brilliantly and skillfully shifts genres with every one of its three acts. Its opening act feels tense and claustrophobic. It begins with an opening scene that expertly introduces the character of King Gondo, showing him to be a man who drives his decisions less by personal ambition and more by what will make the people around him and the business he works for strive. After that opening scene, it throws Gondo and the surrounding characters into a kidnapping plot that makes for one tense sequence after another. The kidnapping plot not only allows for a sense of tension that brilliantly builds and builds throughout this first act, but it also makes for a captivating moral dilemma that the film thoroughly explores throughout the first act. It explores whether or not someone could act selflessly to help another if it meant sacrificing their entire well-being, which the film answers by showing Gondo succumbing to the kidnapper's demands when it's clear there's no other option. That opening scene makes Gondo's decision-making throughout the first act all the more understandable and all the more compelling, as the film shows that the decision Gondo makes within that opening scene is for the good of the company he works for and not for himself, showing that he's a man who has a selfless side and doesn't always think of himself.
After that brilliant first act, the film transforms from a tense, single-location thriller into a captivating police procedural. The second act follows the cast of detectives who helped Gondo in the first act as they go from place to place, interviewing people and investigating the areas near and around where the kidnapping took place, all in an attempt to catch the kidnapper and get Gondo's money back. There's an incredible intricacy to this second act, as it cuts between investigation meetings and the investigation itself while showing all the moving parts involved, from the detectives interviewing people to the men listening to the kidnapper's phone calls. But what makes this second act so engaging is that it's centered around a group of men whose motives are entirely selfless, wanting to help a man who sacrificed everything and, as we see throughout this second act, has to pay the consequences. The second act also cuts between the investigation and scenes of the kidnapper as he watches the events of the investigation unfold through newspaper articles, which adds a riveting cat-and-mouse element to the second act, showing the kidnapper haphazardly attempting to get ahead as the police get closer and closer to catching him.
The film's last act leans further into the cat-and-mouse element of the previous act in a thrilling chase sequence through a rainy, grungy city at night. The last act also keeps to the intricate feel of the earlier act, as it cuts between all the different police officers inching closer to the kidnapper. It leads to an incredibly satisfying finale and a chilling final scene where King Gondo confronts the kidnapper.
It's the filmmaking that amplifies the impact of each act. The wide-screen frame and use of long takes heighten the tension of the first act filling the frame with as much information as possible while making so much of the first act feel like it's playing out in real time. The second act uses this same approach to heighten its methodical feel, made even better by the top-notch editing that expertly cuts between all parts of the investigation. It's in the last act, though where the use of long takes and the wide-screen framing is at its best, with wide shots loaded with characters so that the police and the kidnapper are always in frame. Making the cat-and-mouse chase so visually engaging.
Most importantly, though, there's a captivating moral tale and underlying critique on capitalism that drives the film. The film shows how a capitalist society can make people of higher class hesitant to act selflessly and how, through capitalism, genuine acts of selflessness are not always justly rewarded. There's something so refreshing about how genuinely good so many of the police characters are. In most crime films, especially American ones, there's a cynical feel to the police characters, with them driving their actions around some selfish motive. Here, the police characters drive their actions around genuine goodness, wanting to catch a person they deem reprehensible after being astounded by the selflessness of Gondo's actions.
Everything comes together with High and Low to make it a film that's far better and more captivating than I gave it credit for on my first viewing. There's a palpable sense of tension throughout all three of its acts. Its ensemble cast of characters all feel very human, with the film portraying many of them as genuinely good people. So, although the film bored me at parts during my previous viewing, this time around, I was riveted from beginning to end.
Now Streaming on Max and the Criteron Channel in the U.S.
