Tengoku to Jigoku (Kurosawa, 1963)

Tengoku to Jigoku (Kurosawa, 1963) - TSPDT #310

After his drivers' son is accidentally kidnapped instead of his own son, a shoe factory executive is faced with a lot of moral decisions.

Beautifully staged, lots of interiors and great use of empty space between the actors. The story is very surprisingly linear, and the plot and its resolution deceptively simple. Nevertheless, the film leaves one with a very strange uneasy feeling. The kidnapper seems to have a rather complicated inner life and although good triumphs in the last scene there is a very strong (visual) suggestion that Mr. Gondo and the kidnapper are indeed flip sides of the same coin.

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