Plotting to buyout his own shoe company to maintain control, wealthy industrialist Kingo Gondo (Toshiro Mifune) picks up the phone to a mysterious caller claiming to have kidnapped his son, demanding a ransom. As it turns out, they got the chauffeur’s kid by mistake but insist on the ransom – now Kingo must weigh a human life devoid of his personal attachment against his critical business plans. Meanwhile, Inspector Tokura (Tatsuya Nakadai) taps the wire and advises Kingo, using any and every lead they have to trace the call and close in on the kidnapper, whoever and wherever he might be.

Loosely based on Ed McBain’s 1959 novel King's Ransom, Akira Kurosawa’s razor sharp police procedural High and Low is a supremely influential masterclass in suspense that gives way to a much more disturbing and gutting examination of the great class divide as well as a scathing critique of contemporary Japanese society. While Toshiro Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai are unbeatable as always, Tsutomu Yamazaki quietly steals the show from under their noses aided by the incredibly stylish photography of his elusive silhouette and the steely glint of his obscuring glasses. If you’re a fan of Bong Joon-ho’s brand of politically-charged thrillers, you’re going to fall head over heels for this.