High and Low 4K UHD - The Criterion Collection (US Edition)

High and Low is a gripping crime drama and social critique from Akira Kurosawa. Loosely inspired by Ed McBain’s novel King’s Ransom, the story follows Kingo Gondo (Toshirō Mifune), a wealthy executive who has mortgaged everything to seize control of a shoe company. His plans collapse when criminals kidnap what they believe to be his son—but instead abduct the chauffeur’s boy.

Faced with a moral and financial dilemma, Gondo must decide whether to ruin himself to save another man’s child. The film shifts from tense boardroom drama in Gondo’s hilltop mansion (“high”) to a gritty police procedural in Yokohama’s underworld (“low”). Kurosawa uses this dual structure to explore themes of class division, justice, and personal responsibility, while his meticulous camera work and widescreen compositions heighten both the claustrophobia of the mansion and the chaos of the city below.

The film’s finale, a confrontation between Gondo and the kidnapper through prison bars, delivers one of Kurosawa’s most haunting moral reckonings. High and Low is both a masterclass in suspense and a sharp critique of inequality, cementing its place as one of the greatest crime films ever made.

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