High and Low (1963)

Today's movie of the day = High and Low. I was originally going to watch Seven Samurai this morning but then realized it is over three hours so I'll have to save it for this weekend.

This one was a very different Kurosawa film as it was modern day. (Being the 1960s). It was kinda weird seeing Toshiro Mifune in a suit as a businessman. It also had a couple of other of the same actors from Yojimbo and Rashomon.

The story was interesting. It started off fairly strong with the kidnapping of a child which forces the main character to make a big ethical choice. The first half was strong and filmed in a single location. It was tense and interesting to see what would happen.

The second half was a little more loose with the story. My biggest complaint is that the police force working the case had about fifty officers on JUST this case. It's hard to say if ANY case can't be solved with that kind of manpower.

I liked how certain pieces of the case were figured out over time as most didn't seem too out of place. It was fairly logical. I just wasn't as connected to the second half as much as I was the first. Oh, and they literally spent about five minutes of the film watching a character dance which could have been 100% removed and made no difference to the story.

Overall this is still a good one and the first half has done tense moments but as a whole it wasn't as good as other Kurosawa films. I'll still recommend it though!

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