Evening movie review

If you like rough and gruff cop movies with a moral center you’ll like this one.

The indisputable Japanese master director Akira Kurosawa (Ran, Rashomon, Seven Samurai) brings us another tightly wound story with ethical implications. You really end up thinking what would you have done if you were this or that character in “High and Low.”

Gondo (brought to life with a bombastic machismo by Toshiro Mifune) is the go-getter and supremely self-confident CEO of a women’s shoe company. True to his character, he refuses to kowtow to a new cohort of directors who just want to produce cheaper shoes for the masses, regardless of the quality.

Yet this is the subterfuge and has nothing to do with the guts of this crime story.

FIRST CONFLICT: Gondo insists on high-quality shoes even if it means higher prices. The other senior officials of the National Shoe corporation throw down the gauntlet: it’s going to be either them — or Gondo. There’s no room for both.

Gondo can beat back this attack on his life’s work by buying back enough shares to give him an upper hand in the control of the company.

PLOT POINT 1: Just as he is about to borrow the money needed to buy back the extra shares, his son is kidnapped by a ransom artist. (Or is he?)

Gondo is devastated because the only way he can save his son’s life is to ruin his life-time work since paying the ransom would be the end of his attempt to buy more shares.

But here is the twist: the kid who is kidnapped is not actually his own but that of his driver whose son was mistaken for Gondo’s.

Oops… Now what? Is Gondo off the hook? Is he going to refuse to pay because the life in question belongs to his driver’s son rather than his own? As an old-school honorable gentleman, would he be able to live with himself if he refuses to save the son of an employee?

Yet, if he pays the ransom he’ll surely be bankrupt, with no hope of regaining control of the company. In worldly terms, he’d be ruined.

So… Gondo does what his character would dictate and he agrees to pay the ransom.

Then comes a long and rather tedious (and outdated) section on the ’60s Japanese technology of tracking criminals. It’s of historic interest and nothing more.

The film concludes on an upbeat note, with the kidnapper caught and justice served.

However, the last face-off scene between Gondo and the kidnapper just before he is executed is a disappointing and unnecessary piece of “on the nose” exposition after two-hours of high-energy sleuthing and ethical soul wrangling.

But overall “High and Low” is a watchable crime movie with a lot of chain-smoking men making all the decisions in an obviously patriarchal Japan of the ’60s. Unless you are a feminist, you might enjoy this film with great B&W cinematography.

Movie buffs are waiting zealously for the release of probably the most unusual movie of this season-”Singh Is Kinng”. With Bollywood’s current most interesting on screen pair in the lead, Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif, this film might just have the knack to strike the right chords of its viewers keeping in mind their chemistry in last year’s Namastey London and Welcome.

Akshay Kumar plays a nonchalant Punjabi puttar who is compassionate, generous, courageous and noble. Nevertheless he has his own set of cons- he is gullible, imprudent and ‘accident-prone’. Katrina, who plays Sonia, on the other hand, is a bubbly and joyful La student who tends to lose her cool at the sight of criminals.

Akshay Kumar is sent to Australia by the villagers to bring back his fellow villager, Lucky Singh. While on the look out Happy finds that Lucky actually is an underworld Don in Australia. Once, in an accident, Happy happens to save Lucky but unfortunately Lucky becomes paralyzed. Hence, Happy becomes the new King of the Australian Underworld.

The X factor of this movie is the distinctive portrayal of Sikhs. Kudos to Akshay Kumar who took to his turban with unconditional zest, which already is generating a fad amongst the youth. The turban or pagdi, has all of a sudden come in vogue. The credit must in fact be given to Sabina Khan for designing trendy and sophisticated turbans for Akshay Kumar in the movie. Even American rapper Snoop Dogg is seen wearing a turban for this movie.

Another element of this film which makes it a must-see is Katrina’s style statement as she dons swanky creations by Manish Malhotra. Manish has once again proved that his caliber is unparalleled.

To put in a nutshell, Singh is Kinng gives the impression of a competent movie which is exceptional in its own sense. The initiative of rendering a never before image of a Sikh, depicting him vis-a-vis the stature of a King is surely eliciting the desired response from the audience. It depicts that the scenario is no more similar for the Sikhs who were regarded as bland in terms of fashion or style. It puts across a point that a Sikh too, can be a trendsetter. This message is very much evident in Narendra Kumar’s recent collection shown in Lakme Fashion Week where he made his models put on turbans and walk the ramp.