High and Low Blu-ray

The British Film Institute has provided final details for its upcoming Blu-ray release of Akira Kurosawa'sHigh and Low (1963), starring Toshirô Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyôko Kagawa, Tatsuya Mihashi, and Isao Kimura. The release is scheduled to arrive on the market on January 27.

Description: Wealthy industrialist Kingo Gondo (Mifune) faces an agonising choice when a ruthless kidnapper, aiming to snatch his young son, takes his chauffeur's child by mistake – but still demands the ransom, leaving Gondo facing ruin if he pays up. An anatomy of the inequalities in 1960s Japanese society, High and Low is a complex film noir in which an intense police hunt is accompanied by penetrating insight into the kidnapper's state of mind. Kurosawa's virtuoso direction offers no easy answers in its portrayal of those on both sides of the law as equally brutal, but nonetheless human.

Special features and Technical Specs:

• NEW 4K RESTORATION FROM THE ORIGINAL CAMERA NEGATIVE
• NEW audio commentary by Japanese film expert Jasper Sharp
• Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create – High and Low (2002, 37 mins): the director discusses the genesis of High and Low and how specific sequences were filmed, alongside interviews with actors Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyoko Kagawa, Takeshi Kato and Tatsuya Mihashi, as well as cinematographer Takao Saito and script supervisor Teruyo Nogami
• First pressing only: Illustrated booklet with a new essay by Alex Barrett, an essay by Philip Kemp, a contemporary review by David Wilson from Monthly Film Bulletin, notes on the special features and film credits