High and Low

Director: Akira Kurosawa

1963 / 143min / 35mm

Kurosawa’s formal genius and rare humanism are on full display in this white-knuckle thriller—source of an upcoming remake by Spike Lee—which transposes the materials of an Ed McBain novel to contemporary Japan, starring Toshiro Mifune as a rich industrialist thrown into a nerve-shredding situation after, first believing his son has been kidnapped, discovering that his chauffeur’s child was taken by accident. Boasting nigh-constant visual invention, geometric precision of framing, an inventive narrative structure, and a bevy of staggering set pieces—the train hand-off! the down-and-dirty G.I. bar!—High & Low is a virtuoso work that’s also a deeply moral one, exploring the meaning of “justice” in a society defined by vast economic disparity.

“High and Low has one of the most iconic train scenes of all time. And though it’s only one of many segments, the entire, wildly careening film has the feeling of a train in the slow-motion throes of derailment.” —Series curator Genevieve Yue

Distributor: Janus Films

Part of Trains: Local Routes