Matthew Libatique – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

HIGHEST 2 LOWEST – Review by Susan Granger

September 18, 2025September 21, 2025 Susan Granger apple, denzel washington, Highest 2 Lowest, Ilfenesh Hadera, Jeffrey Wright, Matthew Libatique, spike lee

Spike Lee’s newest crime thriller Highest 2 Lowest, a re-imagining of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s classic High to Low (1963), is disappointing – in so many ways. Based on the novel King’s Ransom (1959) by Evan Hunter, using the pseudonym Ed McBain, it revolves around a Black Establishment music mogul known as having the “best ears in the business” who is targeted with a ransom plot.

Reviews

HIGHEST TO LOWEST – Review by Diane Carson

August 13, 2025August 17, 2025 Diane Carson A$SAP Rocky, Akira Kurosawa, denzel washington, Eddie Palmieri, Highest to Lowest, Jeffrey Wright, Matthew Libatique, spike lee

In the opening shots of Highest to Lowest, director Spike Lee clearly announces that he will put his unique stamp on this remake of iconic Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 classic High and Low. As cinematographer Matthew Libatique glides through and over New York City to discover the appropriately named David King’s lavish Brooklyn penthouse, Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’ plays its entire length on the soundtrack. This amusing, unexpected homage to Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma is an ironic introduction to this Stackin’ Hits music mogul’s next few days after a kidnapper calls with an astronomical ransom demand for King’s teenage son Trey