Highest 2 Lowest
Spike Lee is a filmmaker whose style has had a very distinct signature over the years. Whether you’re looking at a film like “Malcolm X” or “Do the Right Thing” or something like “Inside Man” or “Da 5 Bloods,” you know a film of the Oscar winners when you see it. “Inside Man” is the key predecessor to consider when talking about his newest film, “Highest 2 Lowest.” Here, he is working within genre as nakedly as he’s ever been, and yet, he finds a way into it that is unmistakably his.
I do remember watching Akira Kurosawa’s “High to Low” many years ago, but it has been a long time. I do think I considered it lesser Kurosawa compared to the likes of “Ran” or “Seven Samurai” or “Ikiru,” although I hope to revisit it in the future. That is the film Lee is adapting here, and he and screenwriter Alan Fox have made it very much the work of its director. Of course, “High to Low” was also based on an American novel, King’s Ransom, by Evan Hunter, a reminder than Kurosawa himself worked very much in American genre, which has meant his films are easy for filmmakers here to translate. But Lee has made a great thriller out of it, with his ideas about Black culture and responsibility to each other intertwined.
Denzel Washington- in his fifth collaboration with Lee, and first since “Inside Man”- plays David King, a music mogul who is said to have “the best ears in the business” when it comes to spotting talent. His record company, Stackin’ Hits, is struggling financially, however, and is looking at a buyout. He’s hoping to regain a majority controlling interest in the company he built so that he can kill the buyout, but it’s going to cost him to do so. In this cauldron of personal financial tension, his son- Trey (Aubrey Joseph)- is kidnapped, and the kidnapper is wanting $17.5 million for him. Things get complicated, however, when Trey is found, and it turns out that it’s his friend, Kyle (Elijah Wright), that is kidnapped. Kyle is the son of Paul (Jeffrey Wright), who is David’s driver and assistant. His son is safe, but will David still consider paying the ransom for a friend’s son?
I’m not sure if “Highest 2 Lowest” needed to be over two hours long, or if the film required an almost nonstop soundtrack, between songs and score, but by the end, I was so engaged with the film I honestly did not care in the least. Lee has a lot of tricks up his sleeve in how to tell this story, and music is a huge part of it. Part of the reason for David’s struggles with his label seems to be that, while he’s known for his ear for talent, he seems more interested in more traditional musical genres like soul and R&B, and doesn’t seem too interested in rap. That is part of where a rapper named Yung Felon (A$AP Rocky) comes into play; he’s wanting to get David’s attention throughout the movie, and he may have found the right way to do it. Once the kidnapping plot seems to have run its course, the aftermath leads David to Yung Felon, and this is where Washington’s performance truly elevates to being one of his very best. The verbal sparring this icon has with a young firebrand when it’s just them is some of the best directing of actors that Lee’s ever done. When you come for the King, you best not miss. And when you stay true to yourself, things will work themselves out. David does what’s right, and keeps those closest to him closest to his heart. By the end, he realizes what matters, and Washington and Lee have lead us there with their unflinching energy and sense of their craft. This film is a winner.
