High And Low (EOTWS)

End Of The Week Shorts #36 extract: High and Low (1963)

Meticulous, and so air-tight, but simultaneously morally ambiguous, and so wide open, High and Low is a tremendous journey film about sacrifice and meaning. In such, this film is constantly asking its characters what they are willing to sacrifice (what they should sacrifice) and why. There is then a constant conflict between personal security - material, physical and psychological - and transcendent harmony - a sense of security that we can only feel when we are sure we are following the right moral pathway in a life of potential suffering. 

So, though this presents itself as a precise mystery-thriller, do not go into High and Low blind to subtext. There is so much more to uncover beneath its surface. Highly recommended.