Cinemahighest 2 Lowest is not the best or the worst of Spike Lee – just a chance to see Denzel intense

A new movie Spike Lee It is still an event that makes us clean the schedule; in almost 30 years since She wants everything (1986) helped boost the boom of American independent cinema and presented to the world a sassy and unlearned author of Brooklyn, he handed us statements that defined eccentric eccentric projects, epic kinographers and intimate performance films, high blockbusters and documentaries, high and downs. Your place in the canon is guaranteed. Of course, it’s still a roulette, and you never know which Spike It will appear – Ranzinza, Cinéfilo, the playful, the provocative, the blessing, the meticulous craftsman, the man with so many concerns in the mind – as soon as the lights go out. In the best of scenarios, you find them all vying for space on the scene.

Highest 2 Lowest gives room for most of these Spikes They rise to the ring, although, in terms of quality within their filmography, it is ironically on the way. An adaptation of romance King’s Ransomfrom Ed McBain (1959) – In addition to a remake/tribute to the police procedural Heaven and hellfrom Akira Kurosawa1963 – The film balances the classic moral drama with an idiosyncratic collage of themes that Lee carries in the heart. Who awaits another Oldboy – Days of Revengecuriously generic remake of the Edipio Nightmare of Park Chan-Wook In 2013, it will be surprised at how personal this one seems. Who expected something with the same accuracy and intensity of the extraordinary assault movie The perfect plan (2006) may end up rummaging in the chair. Still, the feature gathers him with one of his best employees, and once again reinforces that few actors “do the right thing” as well as Denzel Washington.

Oh yes, Denzel. He has now entered an interesting moment of his career, mixing his usual rigor with a late lightness. We already take its imposing presence for certain, but it is adding unpredictable, volatile and captivating nuances to this authority. He is still the Movie star With and uppercase ever, still the protagonist we want to follow. But now there is an extra dose of play and unconcern. Before, an electrical and explosive performance like the one that earned him the Oscar in Training day (2001) was the remarkable exception. Now it has become the rule. THE King Kong It will never be a match for him.

Lee You know that. And, when starting his fifth movie with Washington with a New York air shot to the sound of the anthem of Rodgers and Hammerstein“Oh, what a Beautiful Mornin‘”(It’s not as impactful as the opening with Copland in HE GOT GAMEBut it still brings greatness), the director gives the star a solid base to shine. In the book and in the movie Kurosawathe tycoon in the center of the conflict works with shoes. Lee Updates this setting history in the music industry. The tycoon David Kingalso known as “King David”(Interpreted by Washington), is part Berry Gordypart Irv Gotti And a little “that other guy”, taking, well … certain things. He has the best ear at the branch, but his golden age at the head of the Stackin ‘Hits Records It’s over. Now you want to close a business that would allow you to buy back your old label and secure your legacy. King You just need the company’s support and move some money. More complicated than it seems.

Your wife, Pam (ILFENESH HADERA), fears that everything is just an expensive whim. Your son, Tray (AUBREY JOSEPH), is annoyed because the father does not fulfill the promise of being more present. Your best friend and driver, Paul (Jeffrey Wright), just want the boss to think well before acting. Later, the phone rings. Tray was kidnapped. Criminals require $ 17.5 million in rescue. King It’s ready to pay, because nothing is more important to him than the family. Until they find out that the kidnappers took the wrong boy. In fact, they took Kyle (Elijah Wright), the best friend of Tray… and son of Paul. The question now is: King Will you still pay the ransom?

It is at this moment that Highest 2 Lowest begins to face more thorny questions behind his Pulp thriller facade, and although both Washington and Wright dive into the dilemma as veterans (especially Wrightwho dose the anger of his character with mastery), that is also where the movie begins to lose his breath. To this point, there are several “spikeiices” to animate the plot: stylistic tics, many fingers raised, and provocations to the team of Larry Bird; This is the kind of movie that someone breaks the fourth wall to shout “Boston is a drug!” It seems completely natural. But he also enters a pace that risks looking dragged and generic. It could be any police procedural made by any union director, starring a cinema legend.

Still, when Spike He wants to raise the level, he delivers. There are two scenes in Highest 2 Lowest where Lee It seems to have fun while printing your mark in the honor of a police classic. One involves the delivery of the rescue: enter the line of the subway of the Bronxa backpack, several motorcycles and an outdoor presentation of the parsley icon Eddie Palmieri. Lee interspersing the whole action with the track “Puerto Rico”, 1972, and you can feel the electricity rising. It is a first line reading of a cliché of the genre – the endless exchange of packages – and the fact that it also seems like a political statement only makes it even more exciting. A public celebration of ethnic pride in the heart of the city that has had a president to erase immigrants and non -white people in the US, should not sound so radical. We live.

The second scene happens when King Finally find the kidnapper to face. Thanks to a playlist of independent artists that his son has passed on to him, the tycoon identifies the culprit: an aspiring rapper called Yung Feloninterpreted by A $ AP ROCKY. King finds him in the studio where he is recording, and the two confront the envy, second chances, and the anger of Felon for only noticed when someone is in danger. Then they start changing freestyle verses. None of the rhymes can be reproduced here in full, but believe me: Denzel Send it very well. It is the kind of attitude duel in which it shines, and Rocky proof that can hold the wave before a guy who has already been MALCOLM X, Macbeth and the powerful Macrinus of Gladiator 2. Ends before what we would like – so that Denzel can embody your side The protector – But this scene deserves to be in any future retrospective of everyone involved.

After that, only emotional healing and one last debate in jail, and Highest 2 Lowest Take care of tieing the loose ends. The impression of it is to have watched a great movie about New York, with a great performance in the center, but still seems to be missing. In the end, it is an excuse to see Denzel releasing the verb. What draws the most attention is the epilogue that Lee Adds fair when we think the credits will rise. Throughout history, we see the industry lion trying to recover his roar while looking at a profit -obsessed music market and wonders: Who stole the soul? Then he hears a new singer-composer, and suddenly his motivation is renewed. It is not difficult to parallel with the movie industry, and how it may have been lost. Lee need not ask who stole the soul there. He just wants to recover his own, and do something that the public and his inner movie buff can enjoy. Just for that, it deserves applause.

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