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Although it takes a while to get started, Highest 2 Lowest ultimately presents a
powerful, riveting, relevant, and extremely humanistic crime drama. Directed by
Spike Lee, the title includes a word written as a number which is a word play
convention he has employed before (Da Five Bloods,
25th Hour) and was famously employed by Prince in songs like "Nothing Compares 2
You" and "I Would Die 4 You". This choice on assumes is partially used to
differentiate this film from "High and Low",
the original Akira Kurosawa classic that this film loosely remakes. At first, I
was a bit alarmed to read that Lee was remaking an Asian classic because
his version of Oldboy (2013) is a low point in his career. As it turns out,
there was nothing to fret about, the film is marvelous and one of Lee’s best of
the decade. Played out of competition to huge acclaim at the Cannes Film
Festival this year, where Denzel Washington received an honorary lifetime
achievement award.
Spike Lee is an extremely talented but highly inconsistent filmmaker. When
he is on his mark, he creates some of the best and most timely socially
conscious political films of our time. His greatest accomplishments are arguably: Do The
Right Thing (1989), which might be the best film about race in America ever, and
the classic Public Enemy video for Fight the Power, which is in the film, which
was a high point in hip hop culture.
Highest 2 Lowest marks the fifth collaboration between Spike Lee and Denzel
Washington, a superb director/ actor combo that works together extraordinarily
well. Their collaboration is on par with Martin Scorsese/Robert De Niro, Alfred Hitchcock/Jimmy
Stewart, Akira Kurosawa/Toshiro Mifune. John Ford/John Wayne, and Werner
Herzog/ Klaus Kinski. They are one of the best creative combos in the
history of cinema. Lee seems to instinctively understand just how to best make use of
Washington’s enormous
talent. The two have worked together extremely well in: Mo' Better Blues
(1990), Malcolm X (1992), He Got Game (1997), and
the Inside Man
(2006) and they do it again here.
For Washington,
Malcolm X is probably the best performance of this usually accomplished actor’s
career. But he has also turned in top notch performances in: Glory (1989), Training Day (2001), The
Hurricane (1999), Fences (2016) and the more recent Tragedy of Macbeth (2021).
He has rarely given a less than exemplary performance, but if I have one
complaint it's that Denzel is almost always better than his films, and he
rarely works with directors that rise to his level. This is obviously not
the case here as . This is one of the most exceptional and absorbing
performances he has turned in in the last twenty years. He has rarely been as
likable, admirable, or inspiring.
Highest 2 Lowest is a first-rate rate dramatic crime thriller
about what appears on the surface is about a kidnapping. But like most Spike Lee
joints, it has many other important
themes and layers at play in the narrative. Such as changing standards in the record industry and how much of a
struggle it is to stay current without lowering those standards or losing what
makes you special. David King (Washington) is the big-time record
producer who started and runs Stackin Hits Records. He previously sold some of
the stocks in his company, and lost controlling interest. But he is very
passionate about his business, and he continuously puts aside some money to get his company
back and on its feet again.
One day, he finds out that kidnappers have taken his son, Trey (Aubrey Joseph).
Later, he is stunned to learn that the kidnappers accidentally took the wrong
boy, the son of his chauffeur and best friend, Paul (Jeffrey Wright from
American Fiction). The kidnappers still want King to give them the money, and if
he does that, he will lose his dream of getting back his company and once again
taking a more active role in the music industry. It is hard not to think that
there is a lot of Denzel in his portrayal of David King, a bright, charismatic character with high personal standards
who is now presented with a uniquely moral problem.
King is basically a good guy, but he does not always want to do the right thing
right away. He is very conflicted because saving the life of his friend’s son
might mean giving up his dream. On the other hand, his wife is afraid that
buying back the company will cause King to neglect his family again. She wants
him to pay the ransom and let others run his old business. His son is repulsed
by the King’s apparent lack of compassion and his seeming lack of concern about
his friend. In one of the best scenes, his son tells him. “My dad, the king, has
the best ears in the business and the coldest heart.”
King partially lives in the past and still apparently has relationships with the
artists he produced. At one dark moment, he talks to the pictures of former
clients/collaborators such as Aretha Franklin. James Brown and Jimi Hendrix, as
if he were asking for advice. He also has a memorable exchange with a younger
company executive. When King complains that artificial Intelligence can never
produce effects as good as songs using real human artists, he is told curtly:
“AI is the future of the whole industry.”
We get the idea that the King is no longer considered hip or hot, but it is
obvious he thinks he has higher standards than his younger peers. This might
reflect Lee’s own doubts or anxieties about trying to keep up with young, hipper
directors in a competitive entertainment field. When he started in the 80s,
there were few successful African American filmmakers, but now younger hotshots
like Jordan Peele and Ryan Coogler have taken some of the spotlight and media
attention away from him.
Spike Lee was a student of the great filmmaker, Martin Scorsese, and you can see
the influence of his mentor on some specific shots and scenes in the film. There
is a scene in which King and his friend are chasing blackmailers across a Puerto
Rican parade, which is MC-ed by former Spike Lee film veteran, Rosi Perez (He Got Game
and Do the Right Thing). With all its color, pomp, and pageantry, the
scene effectively recalls a similar scene in Taxi Driver, which also uses a big
campaign scene in New York for a backdrop for another tense crime scenario. Both
scenes capture the majesty and diversity of the city, and both show that
violence or chaos can erupt out of nowhere at any minute.
The film is a dream come true for lovers of classic hip hop. The King character
is supposed to be a music expert, and he effortlessly drops lines by rappers
like Nas, DMX, and Tupac Shakur (as well as some contemporary Southern hip hop
figures) as if he is quoting scripture or Shakespeare. Believe it or not, one of
the most magical moments is an intense, highly improvised rap duel between King
and a criminal played by real-life rapper A$AP Rocky. I know it sounds hokey on
paper, but it works surprisingly well and has a great climax. This is probably
the most memorable scene in the film. It is one of the best uses of hip hop in a
film I’ve ever seen, along with the rap battles in 8 Mile (2002) and
Blindspotting (2018).
In addition, there is a brief but satisfying cameo by popular R&B/rapper Ice
Spice. But the most impressive musical cameo in the film is by the lesser-known Aiyanna Lee. She appears as Zula, a young friend of the King’s son who is
auditioning for a contract in front of the King. She commands almost every
second she is on stage effortlessly performing the title track Highest 2 Lowest,
and she puts many of the wanna-be vocalists on shows like The Voice, American
Idol, and America’s Got Talent to shame.
The film screened had a limited release at theaters to help qualify for the
Oscars, and that is how I saw it. Then the film almost immediately started
streaming on Apple TV, although it is still playing in a few select theaters.
Before the advent of streaming, this would have been a major release. This is
kind of a shame because with its dazzling big panning shots of the city, it is
bound to lose some of its momentum on TV shows, and if at all possible, it
should be experienced on a big screen.
Although it has small flaws, such as irregular pacing, this is a must-see film
and a probable awards contender for best film of the year, and it should also do
well in key acting categories. Although it is less flashy and experimental than
some of Lee’s best films, it is ultimately far more solid, consistent, and
uplifting than most of his previous films. It also has a decent chance to be on
my best films of the year list.
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