High and Low

1963, KUROSAWA Akira, 2h 23m

There are some films I use to get inspiration in my own work as a cinematographer. Kurosawa’s High and Low is one of them.

I saw the film for the first time during a film festival in New York when I was a student there in the mid-1980s. It was a newly restored print and I had never seen a black-and-white film of such quality in a cinema before.

High and Low has some marvellously choreographed sequences, with the actors having to move around with millimetre precision. It is bold and beautiful, it is rigorous, but still alive.

Chosen by Gaute Gunnari

Original title Tengoku to jigoku

Year 1963

Director KUROSAWA Akira

Screenplay HISAITA Eijirô, Ed MCBAIN, KIKUSHIMA Ryuzo, KUROSAWA Akira, OGUNI Hideo, SHOBO Hayakawa

Cinematography ASAKAZU Nakai, TAKAO Saitô

Producer KIKUSHIMA Ryuzo, TANAKA Tomoyuki

Cast MIFUNE Toshirô, NAKADAI Tatsuya, KAGAWA Kyôko, MIHASHI Tatsuya, KIMURA Isao

Production Company Kurosawa Production Co., Toho Company

Runtime 2h 23m

Format ??? Print/Format ???

Links IMDb