High and Low

Set in the oppressive Tokyo summer, this exhilarating, gripping, and tightly directed entry from the dynamic master of Japanese film follows a businessman faced with a difficult choice when a kidnapper mistakenly abducts his chauffeur’s son to ransom him. Deemed one of his 84 favorite films of all time by Martin Scorsese, Kurosawa’s ahead-of-its-time police procedural influenced a generation of filmmakers from Bong Joon-ho to David Fincher. Structured in three separate but intertwined sections, Kurosawa’s police drama functions as both moving interpersonal drama and biting social commentary, a stunning display of a meticulous director’s vision and style.