High and Low

wow. why did it take me so long to watch this? a masterclass in filmmaking; in blocking, in acting, in storytelling, in pacing. it hooked me immediately and it had me until the end. every frame is so intentional and meticulously calculated, you barely even feel the runtime because everything is so precise. love kurosawa’s use of vertical space. gondo literally and figuratively occupies the moral "high" ground up in his house, but the movie forces a descent into the "low" of the city. the atmosphere shift is visceral. it cornered him into choosing between his career and his humanity—proving that the distance between the high and the low isn't really as far as it seems. absolute cinema also I knew I recognized the actor for shin'ichi somewhere