Highest 2 Lowest (2025)

There are very few times, if any, when Spike Lee doesn't know exactly what he's doing. Whether you like or dislike any particular movie from him, it's impossible to come away from any of them still trying to figure out the point that he was making. I mean . . . I'm not including his remakes here, but that's only because I have yet to be brave enough to see how he handled Oldboy (although I did enjoy Da Sweet Blood Of Jesus). The point is that Lee has been a unique and brilliant cinematic voice for four decades now, and Highest 2 Lowest shows that he's far from done when it comes to grabbing viewers by the scruff of the next and forcing them to look at the very best and worst of humanity.

Based on a film by Akira Kurosawa, which was itself based on a novel, "King's Ransom", by Ed McBain, Highest 2 Lowest is the tale of David King (Denzel Washington). David is known to have the best ear in the music business, which is reflected in his status and wealth. It's a tricky time though, with King looking to rearrange finances to allow him to buy back a majority share in Stackin' Hits Records, which would stop a rival from swooping in. Things are made trickier by the fact that his son, Trey (Aubrey Joseph), is kidnapped by someone demanding a ransom of $17.5M. The kidnappers have the wrong victim though, having snatched Trey's good friend, Kyle (Elijah Wright), who is also the son of David's driver, Paul (Jeffrey Wright). That could save David a lot of money, although image is everything. Not to mention morality.

Lee and Washington working together again would have been enough to get me keen to see this, and Washington is as good as you think he will be, but the rest of the cast is just as appealing, and everyone seems to be bringing their A-game when selected to share the screen with the mighty Denzel. Jeffrey Wright has been delivering great performances for years, and he has the bonus in this feature of also sharing some screentime with his actual son portraying his onscreen son. Joseph does very good work as the son who knows when he can push his father a bit and when he has to stay quiet after making a point. Ilfenesh Hadera is Pam King, and is a graceful and calm presence at her husband's side, the main investigators of the kidnapping case are played by LaChanze, John Douglas Thompson, and Dean Winters, there's room for Wendell Pierce to pop in for a minute or two, and A$AP Rocky and Aiyana-Lee Anderson convince as two very different musicians ready to take our main character in two very different directions.

A portrait of a character, summing up their attitudes and attempts to push back against some of the vices of the modern world, and an entertaining crime thriller, Highest 2 Lowest is also, as has happened with other Spike Lee movies, a film that makes New York City feel like a main supporting character. From the opening shots, accompanied by "Oh, What A Beautiful Mornin'", to the literal journey that David King goes on while also moving through some distance internally, this is a New York movie, and there are times when it feels more like an audio-visual music video than a movie. That's no bad thing though, not when Lee just wants to share the joy of roaming through familiar streets with some classic tracks blasting from your speakers.

I've not seen the Kurosawa film, which I'm sure is a great film (because, well, KUROSAWA), nor have I read the McBain novel, but this seems like a fantastic way to interpret the core plot points from the source material. It feels more like a funky remix than a slavish remake, and the main battle that we see in the third act is obviously the main point of interest for Lee. It's old vs. new, it's instant gratification vs. hard work and paying dues, it's (sometimes) visionary artists vs. a system that makes it all too easy to put the business side ahead of the art. The soundtrack choices alone earn a bonus point from me.

9/10

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Mubi Monday: Ran (1985)

Ran is based on Shakespeare's King Lear (something I will have to take on good authority from others, having not yet read the play for myself). It's also a film that some claim is the best to come from legendary director Akira Kurosawa. I have to dispute that. Personally, I prefer both Seven Samurai and Throne Of Blood, but that's not to denigrate Ran in any way. It merely illustrates just how often Kurosawa was working at the peak of his powers.

The main story concerns an elderly warlord named Hidetora and the divide that he causes between his three sons, Taro, Jiro, and Saburo. He starts the movie by trying to teach them the importance of staying strong together, something that one of the sons immediately protests. There will always be the potential for forces to be broken, whether individually or together. The rest of the movie quickly ends up proving Saburo correct, for it was he rejecting the main lesson. There's scheming, treachery, insanity, and armed skirmishes on the way to a suitably grandiose finale.

Co-written by Kurosawa, working with Hideo Oguni and Masato Ide, Ran is an impressive and epic experience that really layers everything over a very simple message at its core (often the case with Shakespeare plays). There's a power struggle between a few different characters, but also an inevitable feeling of the sins of a father being passed on to his sons, despite his best efforts.

Tatsuya Nakadai is excellent as the old man who has been tired out from a life of warmongering and aggression, and the younger cast members all do great work as his three sons, with Daisuke Ryû a bit of a standout as the son rejected by his father while he tries to explain how things are likely to go wrong in the time ahead. The other standout is Mieko Harada as Lady Kaede, a manipulative woman who encourages her husband to go to any lengths to get more and more power, but I should also mention the jester character, Kyoami, played by Pîtâ, someone who loses their sense of silliness in the face of a constant barrage of strange unpleasantness and horrors.

As accomplished as he is at showing things on a grand scale, it's still impressive to see some of the spectacle Kurosawa puts on display here, especially in a final act that culminates with various forces about to face off against one another. And yet it's also these moments that show how this movie doesn't work quite as well as some of the other Kurosawa classics, which tended to, for me, better share out the moments of epic scope with the smaller character beats. Ran still does that, but it doesn't work as well for me here as it did in the other movies mentioned above.

I'm not an idiot though, this is still a near-perfect bit of cinema. And it's essential viewing.

9/10

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