MOVIE REVIEW

High and Low / 1963

Name: High and Low
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Released: 1963
Duration: 142 min
Rating: 8.4

Stark, intense drama almost beyond belief!

8.4 / 10 (1,112 votes)

142 minutes

DIRECTOR Akira Kurosawa

WRITERS Akira Kurosawa, Ryuzo Kikushima, Hideo Oguni, Eijiro Hisaita

CAST Toshirō Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyōko Kagawa, Tatsuya Mihashi, Isao Kimura, Kenjirō Ishiyama, Takeshi Katō, Takashi Shimura, Jun Tazaki, Nobuo Nakamura, Yūnosuke Itō, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Minoru Chiaki, Eijirō Tōno, Masao Shimizu

PRODUCTION TOHO, Kurosawa Production

ORIGINAL 天国と地獄

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REVIEW & SYNOPSIS

Sinopsis

High and Low adalah sebuah Drama, Crime, Thriller yang dirilis pada tahun 1963. “Stark, intense drama almost beyond belief!” Film ini disutradarai oleh Akira Kurosawa dan dibintangi oleh Toshirō Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyōko Kagawa, Tatsuya Mihashi, Isao Kimura.

High and Low menghadirkan cerita yang mendalam tentang perjuangan, konflik, dan resolusi yang memukau. Dengan alur yang terstruktur dengan baik, film ini berhasil membawa penonton dalam pengalaman sinematik yang tak terlupakan.

Dari segi teknis, High and Low menawarkan sinematografi yang memanjakan mata, tata suara yang imersif, serta akting yang meyakinkan dari para pemerannya.

Secara keseluruhan, High and Low adalah Drama yang layak masuk dalam daftar tontonan Anda. Film ini tidak hanya menghibur tetapi juga memberikan pesan moral yang mendalam.

Last Updated: April 28, 2026

COMMUNITY REVIEWS FROM TMDB

CinemaSerf 7/10

September 4, 2023

I didn't take to this initially. The scenario reminded me a little of an episode of "Columbo" - a rather sterile, studio-set environment that came across as quite limiting. Once it gets going, though, it's one of the best crime thrillers I've seen in ages. It all centres around the kidnapping of a small boy for whom the anger-prone, shoe millionaire "Gondo" (a strong contribution from Toshirô Mifune) is supposed to pay a ransom of ¥30 million - a colossal sum. It turns out, though, that it's not his son who has been snatched - it's the child of his...

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Zak_Jaggs 8/10

December 19, 2024

A well worked, high stake crime thriller. The stakes are deeply personal to our main characters and puts them in an impossible situation. The performances and direction are very solid, the story is engaging and ultimately, it's a simple yet enjoyable film. Kurosawa comments on modern corporate greed and poverty in post-war Japan, and he does it very well.

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Brent Marchant 7/10

August 27, 2025

I’m always amazed at how a single film can be fundamentally characterized in multiple ways, but that’s understandable when the picture combines an array of diverse elements, each of which has a validity all its own that can subsequently lead to different overarching interpretations. Such is the case with this 1963 film classic from famed Japanese auteur Akira Kurosawa, which provides the cinematic inspiration behind filmmaker Spike Lee’s current reimagination, “Highest 2 Lowest,” now playing theatrically. Like the current iteration, “High and Low” follows the story of a wealthy businessman, Kingo Gondô (Toshirô Mifune), who’s looking to take control of...

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