‘Highest 2 Lowest': Spike Lee Remakes a Kurosawa Classic
R | 2h 13m | Drama, Mystery, Thriller | 2025
Successfully remaking master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's films is always a tall order. However, the original 'Django' (a redo of 'Yojimbo') and 'The Magnificent Seven' ('Seven Samurai') show that it is possible to pull it off.
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New York Post
27 minutes ago
- New York Post
Brooklyn penthouse in Denzel Washington's ‘Highest 2 Lowest' lists for $15M
In Spike Lee's new thriller 'Highest 2 Lowest,' Denzel Washington and A$AP Rocky spend as much time above the skyline as they do on the streets of Brooklyn — thanks to a cinematic cameo from one of the borough's priciest listings. The penthouse that appears in the trailer isn't a movie set; it's the top residence at Olympia Dumbo, a sail-shaped tower overlooking the East River, now seeking $15 million, The Post has learned. Occupying the entire 33rd floor, Penthouse A at 30 Front St. spans 4,266 square feet with ceiling heights up to 13 feet and a private, 498-square-foot terrace. Advertisement 8 Spike Lee's upcoming thriller 'Highest 2 Lowest' features Denzel Washington and A$AP Rocky against a backdrop of Brooklyn — and one of its most striking sets is a real penthouse now for sale for $15 million. Pavel Bendov for Olympia DUMBO 8 The terrace itself spans about 500 square feet. Pavel Bendov / ArchExplorer 8 Denzel Washington films on the terrace for the movie. Youtube Advertisement While the film's production dressed the interiors, the sweeping views of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges are authentic — no green screen required. The four-bedroom, 3½-bath home opens from a private elevator landing into a formal foyer, leading to living and dining spaces framed by skyline panoramas. 8 The terrace offers unobstructed views of the Manhattan skyline. Pavel Bendov / ArchExplorer 8 A still from the film features Manhattan as a backdrop. Youtube Advertisement Details include a wet bar clad in Calacatta Vagli Oro marble, a Workstead-designed kitchen with Gaggenau appliances, and a primary suite with dual walk-in closets and a stone-clad bath featuring twin showers, dual water closets and a freestanding tub. The building's amenities span more than 38,000 square feet of facilities on three levels. Residents can access indoor and outdoor pools, a sauna, steam room, juice bar, spin and boxing studios, a bowling alley, children's play areas, and — timely for the US Open — a rooftop tennis court said to be the highest in New York City. Private parking is also available. 8 Spanning the entire 33rd floor of the sail-shaped tower, Penthouse A offers 4,266 square feet of living space. Pavel Bendov for Olympia DUMBO Advertisement 8 Interiors by Workstead include a marble-clad kitchen with Gaggenau appliances and a wet bar. Pavel Bendov for Olympia DUMBO 8 One of four bedrooms. Pavel Bendov for Olympia DUMBO John B Gomes of Douglas Elliman holds the listing. The penthouse next door, Penthouse B, also made a cameo in the film and was briefly listed in June for $17.5 million before it was taken off the market. The plot of 'Highest 2 Lowest' stars Denzel Washington as a music mogul who is being targeted by a ransom plot. It has already earned a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Associated Press
an hour ago
- Associated Press
Movie Review: Spike Lee's 'Highest 2 Lowest' finds its groove in New York's streets
Spike Lee's 'Highest 2 Lowest' takes some time to find its groove. But once it does, when the film leaves the high rises and puts its feet on the New York pavement, it really sings. A reimagining of Akira Kurosawa's 1963 crime thriller 'High and Low,' Lee brings the story to a modern-day New York where a music mogul, played by Denzel Washington, is faced with a moral dilemma: Save a kidnapped kid or his flagging empire. Both will cost nearly everything he has. We toss around the term 'auteur' pretty casually these days. It's become almost a shorthand for any filmmaker with an ounce of style. But 'Highest 2 Lowest' is a film that has Lee's DNA in every frame — a symphonic blend of his influences and passions: cinema, New York City, sports, Black stories, great needle drops and, of course, Washington. It's easy enough to just go along for the ride, trusting that it will end up somewhere worthwhile, even when the green screen is a little off, the score a little distracting or the dialogue a little unnatural. But it will require some audience patience nonetheless. In its first half, 'Highest 2 Lowest' plays a bit like a melodrama crossed with a sitcom, where the beats are stilted and the dialogue feels like dialogue. There's an awkward artificiality to the whole thing, which is likely more metaphor than accident, but it's also not the most engaging stretch. Washington's character David King is a music executive and founder of a record label whose biggest days are behind him. You wouldn't necessarily know it to look at his palatial apartment with its panoramic views of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan skyline, but the money isn't exactly coming in like it used to. The realities of the music business, social media and the attention economy have muddled the plot. The guy who once had the 'best ears in the business' can't seem to get a handle on what works anymore. He has the chance to cash out and sell the business, but against the wishes of everyone around him, decides he wants to take back ownership of the thing he created. When his beautiful wife Pam (Ilfenesh Hadera, either miscast or terribly underwritten) says she's going to pledge half a million dollars to an arts organization, he asks her to hold off. 'But we've always supported young Black artists,' she replies, though you suspect part of the worry is about keeping up appearances. Things come into focus quickly, however, when David learns that his son Trey (Aubrey Joseph) has been kidnapped. The ransom is $17.5 million. There is a twist, which perhaps shouldn't be spoiled, but it soon becomes less obvious to the Kings whether they should pay up. It's an interesting conundrum, and a potent one for these greedy times, but also difficult to empathize with on a certain level. This is a guy with a lot of assets to his name and the ability to get his hands on $17.5 million. For the audience, the choice will seem obvious. It's never quite clear what his life will look like if that money disappears, but the bottom doesn't seem like a possibility. But this is all just a lead up to the more exciting and compelling cat-and-mouse portion of the film, where the kidnapper, an aspiring, down-on-his-luck rapper named Yung Felon (played by a magnetic A$AP Rocky ) is finally introduced. His showdown with King is fun, tense and even includes a rap battle. A$AP Rocky more than holds his own with Washington. In a different timeline, in a world where King listened to as many new artists as he did when he was starting out, their stories might have been different. Yung Felon might have been discovered, instead of just being one of the aggrieved talents languishing in obscurity and plotting violent revenge. There is a lot going on in Alan Fox's script for 'Highest 2 Lowest,' which attempts to present a realistic picture of New York and all its contradictions, from the billionaire boardrooms to the Puerto Rican festivals in the Bronx to the lively Yankees fans on the subway. Jeffrey Wright, who also gets some great scenes with Washington, plays King's friend and driver, Paul. He too is looking for his son Kyle (real-life son Elijah Wright) but gets far less respect and attention from the cops. The inequalities and prejudices run deep, and at a certain point David and Paul set off on their own to solve the case, vigilantes in a Rolls-Royce. 'Highest 2 Lowest' may not reach the heights of some of Lee's best films, but it's the kind film that makes you hope Lee and Washington have more to make together. 'Highest 2 Lowest,' an A24 release in theaters Friday and streaming on Apple TV+ on Sept. 5, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for 'language throughout and brief drug use.' Running time: 133 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.
Boston Globe
an hour ago
- Boston Globe
A match made in Brooklyn: The films of Spike Lee and Denzel Washington
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Scott and Lee cross paths in Washington's oeuvre within the subgenre of the New York City heist film. Scott turned the greatest NYC heist movie ever made, 1974's 'The Taking of Pelham One Two Three' into a nearly unwatchable disaster of a remake. In 'Inside Man,' Lee dropped Denzel into a role inspired by Walter Matthau's character from the original 'Pelham' — right down to the hat and the hostage negotiations. Advertisement In honor of 'Highest 2 Lowest,' the reunion of 'Spike and D' (as Lee calls the duo) 19 years after 2006's 'Inside Man,' let's look at the four other films they made together. I'll provide the star rating I gave each film when it was released. Advertisement Mo' Better Blues (1990) Lee's follow-up to 'Do the Right Thing' was always going to draw unfair comparisons to that film. It's a completely different movie in tone and subject. It's also nowhere near as good. The first pairing of Lee and Washington casts the actor as trumpet player Bleek Gilliam. Bleek is the leader of a jazz band whose members include 'DTRT' holdovers Giancarlo Esposito on piano and Bill Nunn on bass. On saxophone is the star of Lee's next movie, Wesley Snipes. Snipes plays Bleek's romantic rival, Shadow Henderson. I share Shadow's last name, but I play Bleek's instrument. So of course, I stared at Denzel's fingers every time he picked up that horn. Terence Blanchard plays the trumpet on the delightful titular theme song, written by the film's composer and Spike's father, This film's Bleek and Shadow are romantically involved with Clarke Bentacourt (Cynda Williams), who wants to sing in the band. But Bleek won't let her. When she does sing, however, Williams's rendition of W.C. Handy's 'Harlem Blues' is incredible. Lee pays a sort of homage to this scene in the last few minutes of 'Highest 2 Lowest.' Additionally, Bleek is doing the Mo' Better with Indigo Downes (Lee's sister, Joie). The scene where the two women show up at the same venue while wearing red dresses is an example of cinematographer Ernest Dickerson's masterful command of color in this film. Advertisement This is a movie seen through a jazzman's eyes, with images alternating between searing reds and ice-cold blues. The trumpet in the opening credits gleams with a golden hue King Midas would envy. But the screenplay is a hot mess, and Lee got in some hot water over the film's stereotypical depiction of its Jewish club owners. As flawed as 'Mo' Better Blues' often is, every image is a jaw-dropper, and Denzel is good, too. It remains Dickerson's masterpiece as a cinematographer. (★★★) Denzel Washington as "Malcolm X." Warner Bros Malcolm X (1992) Lee's next collaboration with Washington is also a masterpiece. It's also still the only Hollywood epic made about a Black person—it's 202 minutes long. Lee battled Warner Bros. and budgetary issues to complete the film. As Malcolm, Washington would have easily earned the Academy Award, but Al Pacino was due for the 'we owe you Oscar,' and won for 'Scent of a Woman.' Once again, Spike and D are joined by cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, editor Barry Alexander Brown, and 'Malcolm X' also benefits from fine work by Angela Bassett as Malcolm's wife, Betty, and from Lee's four-time collaborator, Delroy Lindo as West Indian Archie. But it's Washington's show from frame one. Whether giving speeches or marching slowly to his death (that scene has Lee's most powerful use of his trademark 'people mover' shot), Washington gives one of the greatest movie performances ever. (★★★★) Advertisement Denzel Washington (left) stars as Jake Shuttlesworth and Ray Allen is his estranged son Jesus in 'He Got Game,' directed by Spike Lee. David Lee/Touchstone Picture 'He Got Game' (1998) Considering his near-Biblical love of the Knicks, it was inevitable that Lee would make a B-ball parable. This one even has a high school genius savior on the court named Jesus! He's played by former Boston Celtic Ray Allen. Allen holds his own against the scene-stealing Washington, who plays his incarcerated father, Jake Shuttlesworth. But this movie is absolutely ridiculous. The plot involves warden Ned Beatty allowing Jake a week-long furlough from jail so he can convince his son to sign up with the governor's alma mater. Jesus wants to turn pro instead, which sets up the film's conflict. 'He Got Game' shows how sinister billion-dollar sports organizations can be in their seduction of poor Black kids with athletic prowess. Unfortunately, the film is undermined by its sexist treatment of women. At least Washington shows some of the menace he would bring to his Oscar-winning role in 'Training Day.' And that Afro suits him well. Plus, any movie whose title song is a duet between Public Enemy and Stephen Stills that samples Stills's 'For What It's Worth' can't be all bad. And the ending is an infuriating head-scratcher, yet somehow it works. (★★★, but just barely ) Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) and bank robber Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) face off in "Inside Man." AP Photo/Universal Pictures/David Lee 'Inside Man' (2006) While paying homage to the greatest New York City heist movies, Lee and Washington create a modern day classic of the subgenre. 'Dog Day Afternoon' is not only name-checked, it's also the film's main influence. A never-better Clive Owen plans the perfect bank robbery, and it's up to Detective Denzel to solve the case. The good detective is assisted by Chiwetel Ejiofor and a not-always cooperative NYPD. Willem Dafoe, Jodie Foster and Christopher Plummer (reuniting with Washington after 'Malcolm X') round out the excellent cast. Advertisement I wouldn't dare spoil how 'Inside Man' turns out. But, if you want to know more about the making of the movie—and trust me, you do—you should attend Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
