High and Low Reviews

More than 20 years ago, I started to get really interested in movies and I started to discover the great classics. In this journey, one of my first discoveries would be Akira Kurosawa. In the 90’s, I have seen many of his movies and he has been ever since one of my favorite directors. Even though Kurosawa has been mostly famous for his samuraï movies (‘Rashomon’, ‘Ran’, ‘Kagemusha’, ‘Yojimbo’, ‘Shichinin no samurai’,…) , he also did direct a few contemporary features and this one was the best of the bunch in my opinion. Indeed, basically, it is a raw and realistic thriller and it was so spellbinding that, in its own sub- genre (abduction thriller), it is easily the best movie I have ever seen. It was actually a rather simple and straightforward tale with no shootings, no chases, no explosions, but it was still really spellbinding to behold. In my opinion, the masterstroke was to focus on the characters and what they were going through instead of the usual far-fetched gimmicks involved in this genre. Anyway, it was just a captivating story brought by an amazing cast and it shows that Kurosowa was a director with a very wide range. To conclude, I I really loved the damned thing and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you're interested in Akira Kurosawa’s work.