DIRECTOR: Akira Kurosawa
PRODUCERS: Kikushima Ryūzō, Tanaka Tomoyuki
PRODUCTION CO: Tōhō
SCREENPLAY: Kikushima Ryūzō, Oguni Hideo, Hisaita Eijiro, Kurosawa Akira, based on the novel King's Ransom by Evan Hunter
PHOTOGRAPHY: Nakai Asakazu, Saito Takao
EDITOR: Kurosawa Akira
MUSIC: Tōhō
WITH: Mifune Toshirō (Gondo Kingo), Nakadai Tatsuya (Inspector Tokura), Kagawa Kyōko (Gondo Reiko), Ishiyama Kenjirō (Chief Detective 'Bos'n' Taguchi), Sada Yutaka (Aoki), Yamazaki Tsutomu (Takeuchi Ginjirō)

FESTIVALS: Venice

REVIEW

“One of Kurosawa's most formally and morally complex works, High and Low stars Toshirō Mifune as Gondo, a self-made magnate who has risked his entire fortune in a move to gain majority control of his company. When a psychotic kidnapper, intending to snatch Gondo's son, mistakenly abducts the child of the businessman's chauffeur and demands a huge ransom even after he discovers his error, Gondo is faced with a daunting choice: the financial ruination of his family, or the death of the boy. Tautly photographed in CinemaScope, with a succession of stunning deep-focus compositions and thrilling setpieces (including the ransom exchange on a bullet train), High and Low is 'one of the best detective thrillers ever filmed' (AO Scott, The New York Times); 'contains so many nuances of narrative, photographic technique, and acting, that it demands to be seen far more than once' (William K. Everson).”

​ – TIFF Lightbox

“If High and Low remains among Kurosawa’s lesser known works in the west, it might be because its rigorous construction has proven too singularly complex to emulate. Still, in later police procedurals such as Bong Joon-ho’s Memories of Murder (2003) and David Fincher’s Zodiac (2007), there’s no mistaking the influence of Kurosawa’s slow-burn storytelling technique.”

– Jasper Sharp 

FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Queenstown 
Tuesday, 24 June, 8.00pm

​Hamilton 
Monday, 28 July, 6.30pm

Palmerston North
Wednesday, 06 August, 6.00pm

Whanganui  
Monday, 18 August, 7.00pm

Timaru  
Tuesday, 02 September, 6.30pm

Canterbury     
Monday, 15 September, 7.00pm

Wellington   
Monday, 13 October, 6.15pm

​Wellington   
Tuesday, 14 October, 6.15pm

Auckland  
Monday, 03 November, 6.00pm

New Plymouth
​Wednesday, 12 October, 6.00pm
KUROSAWA >>