The keyword search for reveals a specific obsession: the pursuit of the highest quality restoration of a film that is as much about social geometry as it is about criminal psychology. The Criterion Collection’s Blu-ray edition (Spine #24) is not merely a home video release; it is an architectural blueprint of Kurosawa’s genius.
The title is literal. Kurosawa literally built a massive set of Gondo’s house on a hill overlooking the studio lot; the "low" city of Yokohama was a miniature model built in the foreground to create a vertiginous drop. Akira Kurosawa - High.and.Low.1963.JPN.Criterio...
The first hour takes place almost entirely within the hilltop mansion of Kingo Gondo (Toshiro Mifune), a powerful shoe executive. Gondo has mortgaged everything for a leveraged buyout of his company when he receives a call: his son has been kidnapped. However, it is quickly revealed that the kidnapper mistakenly took the son of Gondo's chauffeur instead. Gondo faces an agonizing choice: pay the ransom and lose his career, or refuse and let an innocent child die. The keyword search for reveals a specific obsession: