High and Low

- For a long time I didn't understand blocking. This surely discredits me as someone who should have an opinion on film but I genuinely was too stupid to get it. Like I would watch Challengers, which from what I understand is a well-blocked film and just kinda scratch my head and go "huh, yeah I guess those two are standing pretty equally, that probably means something". But here. God, you can watch this movie completely muted and still understand who is in control in a room, what everyone's relationship to each other is, what everyone's status is. It's just incredible to see how everybody is placed around a scene. - The first act is so incredible and possibly my favourite. It's obviously the best use of blocking in the film, with the police and family all placed around as well as being possibly the most emotional. The raw story being told; of a working class man having to rely on his employer to save his son, having to degrade himself for salvation. - This act might be one of the most incredible pieces of cinematography that isn't Chrissy N huge-scale shots. The way oner's are used so meticulously to move characters about, it could genuinely be one take like a play. - The lighting is so perfect, the way characters faces are shown or obscured, placed in the frame, every single still is a painting, it's perfect. - It also has some of my favourite acting moments in the film, Gondo gives a great conflicted performance. The other directors also give pretty good villain performances. - Ok quick run of the best shots; 10:39, two-shot in front of the car, 30:34, defeated Gondo, 44:44, everyone at once, 47:26, hidden under the table, 49:47, split diopter I think? 51:27, everyone. - Anyways that's the first act. - The Second Act is probably the weakest act but also still a major, major masterpiece. It's the first full genre switch of the film, shifting from a Chamber Film Drama to a police procedural noir. - Right from the get-go, this Act is STRONG. The handheld shots inside the train are incredible and feel like shots from Se7en, 30 years before Se7en. - It's just so gripping (especially with the train scene). - Amazing how Kurosawa can make a scene of a group of police officers presenting evidence one-by-one so exciting with his excellent control of the form. The flashbacks are so well integrated and the mise-en-scene is incredible. The amount of people in the room that are so well set-out and placed. Sorry I'll stop glazing the blocking. - The "travelling-around-looking-for-vantage-points-that-could-see-mount-fuji-as-well-as-the-sea" portion is probably my least favourite part of this movie, it just drags a teensy tiny bit and it's just not as gripping as the rest of the film because the conflict of "Aoki took his son out and now they can't find him" feels way too circumventable and manufactured. - Though it's pertinent to note that all the car scenes in this movie are great, something about them... - Another really insane set of stills with the police addressing the press, with all the press cooped up on one side. Also the press wanting to take down National Shoes is an extension of the theme of collectivism prevailing individualism which is in this film. - The framing of Takeuchi in the hospital is also just really cool, classic window shot and the reveal that they're correct is exhilarating. - You gotta love a dance sequence and the boogie section of this film is just electric. The sound design and the mega-cramped interior of the room creates such a kinetic atmosphere that keeps the tension building even in a potential momentum-sink part of the film. Also there's one shot where the camera whip pans from a wall-size mirror to the actual room and that's just perfection. - Dope Alley is straight up horrifying, really reminds me of the poor people in Soy Cuba, the woman in the alley that Takeuchi murders conjures such visceral imagery and it really highlights how Takeuchi is pure, pure evil. - Finally, there's the ending conversation between Gondo and Takeuchi, it's just damn good dialogue, also wow that shot with Gondo staring into his own reflection. - I think the message of this film is different that of Parasite's. - I think this film is trying to say that you can dictate your own morality, being born in Heaven or Hell can be the source of your suffering (or lack thereof), but the choices you make to try escape is entirely up to you. You can say Takeuchi was only resentful because of being born in Hell, forced to look up at Heaven, but that didn't force him to kidnap a child. I think Kurosawa is trying to say that society has bearing on your life and degree of suffering, but your own choices dictate your morality. - Sorry if this one feels a little disjointed, I wrote it in #2Parts