Mike Nichols to remake Kurosawa’s ‘High and Low’

I think most people who read this site regularly are aware of my distaste for most remakes, but no one is perfect. There is an occasional remake project that surfaces that actually makes me sit up in my seat and say… “really?!?” It’s a strange, sometimes uncomfortable sensation of being both repulsed and excited at the same time. This recent news about a remake of Akira Kurosawa’a ‘High and Low’Â  is a great example.

Director Mike Nichols (‘Charlie Wilsons War’) is attached to direct a remake of Kurosawa’s ‘Tengoku to jikogu’,  known as ‘High and Low’  in the US, which is written by David Mamet (‘House of Games’) and will be produced by Scott Rudin (‘There Will Be Blood’). What’s even more fascinating than this powerhouse writer/director/producer combination is that Martin Scorsese had the idea to put this together and there’s a very good chance he will be executive producing the project.

The late-great Japanese cinematic master Akira Kurosawa went through a phase of making some great, gritty crime dramas that are technically film noir, but also maintain their own sort of appeal.   ‘High and Low’, based on Ed McBain’s novel  King’s Ransom,  is one of these films. Kurosawa’s 1963 film stars Toshiro Mifune as Kingo Gondo,  a businessman whose life and business  are destroyed after he pays a ransom demand to kidnappers who took his driver’s son. Gondo had just placed his entire life’s assets into an effort to gain control of his biggest competitor, but that same amount of wealth is needed to save the life of a young boy. Gondo must weigh the value of his success against the value of the boy’s life and determine which is the honorable path to follow.

[source: Variety.com]