There are at least two Highest 2 Lowest scenes where Spike Lee reaffirms why he’s a legend. The first is a mid-movie train heist, the other is a climactic tête-à-tête in a recording studio. They’re marvelously edited, composed, and paced sequences working flawlessly to create absorbing tension. 39 years after She’s Gotta Have It, Lee’s camera is still so alive with fervor. And to think, he’s exuding that energy while committing what sounds like on par cinematic sacrilege: remaking an Akira Kurosawa movie.
True, Seven Samurai became The Magnificent Seven to lucrative results, but that and 2022’s Living are the exceptions, not the rules. Who would want to touch this master filmmaker’s most powerful works like Drunken Angel, I Live in Fear, or the crime thriller High & Low? Lee and screenwriter William Alan Fox, though, nail this process by ensuring Highest 2 Lowest is no straightforward retread of an earlier work. High & Low’s narrative skeleton is transported to a story that could only occur in 2025 and with tons of material specifically reflective of Lee’s status in life.
Music industry elder statesman David King (Denzel Washington) can often be read as a stand-in for Lee, himself the long standing icon of his own artistic medium. Happily, this exploration doesn’t become a way for Lee to vent about “the young people and their phones.” On the contrary, one of the loving elements of Fox’s writing and Lee’s camerawork is the emphasis on empathy for the younger generation. It’s important, rather than a tragic inevitability, that the previous generation helps and nurtures new artists.
One of the film’s most gripping scenes chronicles a tense conversation between David and his son Trey (Aubrey Joseph). The former character is refusing to pay a ransom for the son of eternal friend Paul Christopher (Jeffrey Wright), who was mistakenly snagged instead of Trey. While David tries remaining aloof about the whole scenario, the understandably shaken Trey eventually explodes at his father and asks “why don’t you just pay the fucking ransom?” Finally, David is shaken and angry, but only at a younger person daring to defy him. This father chastises his son for swearing at him and reminds him whose roof he’s living under.
It’s a great two-hander scene between Washington and Joseph, not to mention a tragic microcosm of a world prioritizing “respectability” above actually helping people, especially when it comes to the restrictive standards for young individuals. Lee’s filmmaking exudes immense, albeit quiet compassion for Trey here, existing in a world where David is quicker to leap into action against swearing at one’s father than kidnapping. Also, in a likely unintentional bit of stinging political commentary, David is framed in this single-take scene underneath a blue-tinted poster of Kamala Harris. David’s wrapped priorities in this scene of domestic strife echo how that 2024 presidential candidate condemned pro-Palestinian protestors infinitely more sternly than Benjamin Netanyahu. You can do anything you want to people…just don’t be loud or swear, for the sake of folks over 55.
There's a deluge of compelling material in here dealing with age and mortality, including David pleading with framed figures of famous Black musicians in his office for advice in a moment of intense crisis. Highest 2 Lowest, though, especially excels as a transfixing thriller. That aforementioned train heist scene is an especially great display of Lee channeling some gripping Inside Man energy to keep audiences on the edge of their seat. It's also tremendous how much personality from everyday New Yorkers informs this set piece, from folks celebrating Puerto Rican Pride to excited Yankees fans on the subway.
This great touch provides some Highest 2 Lowest's most enthralling moments (I was cackling so hard at Yankees fans responding to their train abruptly grinding to a halt), but also works like gangbusters accentuating the sequence's tension. The unseen kidnapper could be anyone out here in these dense crowds. David's usually isolated from the world in his penthouse or record executive office. Now, he's knee-deep in the proletariat and unsure of whether he's staring his adversary straight in the face. The multi-layered success of this scene emphasizing ordinary souls crystallizes how well Highest 2 Lowest functions on so many levels.
Alas, one grave flaw keeps threatening to derail the entire enterprise. Despite being a movie about a music executive, Highest 2 Lowest's original score from Howard Drossin. This musician worked as an orchestrator on prior Lee movies for the filmmaker's go-to composer, Terence Blanchard. That legendary composer is dearly missed here since Drossin's tracks are ham-fisted entities lacking any sort of inventive instrumentation or personality. On the contrary, his score often sounds like tunes that would be preloaded onto GarageBand or a public domain website. It's absolutely bizarre watching such amateurish tracks punctuate images of high-profile actors and crisp Matthew Libatique cinematography.
Needless to say, the dissonance between professional visuals and clumsy music cues is endlessly distracting. If Blanachard couldn't do this movie, wasn't there anyone else to do the score? Perhaps Bobby Krlic, if Lee wanted to keep things in the A24 "family"? Tamar-kali's been overdue for a big movie; she could've done wonders here and given this thriller the propulsive score it needed.
If Drossin's work disappoints, Highest 2 Lowest's biggest pleasant surprise comes from a terrific ASap Rocky turn as the feature's primary villain. Though one of his first times playing a fictional character in a film, Rocky's an absolute natural at captivating audiences and carving out a new character. That third act recording studio tête-à-tête leans heavily on just his screen presence and personality...and ASap Rocky crushes it. What a glorious sight to see him more than holding his own against an icon like Denzel Washington. Delivering that kind of star-making turn alone ensures Highest 2 Lowest is no hollow retread of a beloved Kurosawa film. It's a strong motion picture in its own right, not to mention an unabashedly Spike Lee creative endeavor.
No comments:
Post a Comment