Kurosawa drew on the thriller King's Ransom by Ed McBain for this contemporary study of the inequalities and hierarchical rigidity of modern Japan. In the first half of the film, set in a single room, an industrialist agonises on whether to pay the huge ransom demanded by kidnappers who have mistakenly snatched his chauffeur's son instead of his own. The second half of the film, shot in a frenzied, restless style on sleazy urban locations, concentrates on the police hunt for the kidnapper. Kurosawa's sympathies are not clear-cut and the film gains layers of ambiguity.
All the categories
