It is moving to see a giant being moved. Without prior notice, the Cannes Film Festival decided what perhaps should have been decided long ago: to honor one of the greats with an honorary Palme d'Or. The greatest? Considering that just a few days ago Robert De Niro was on the same stage... the debate is open. Denzel Washington was there as the protagonist of Highest 2 Lowest, the latest collaboration with his inseparable Spike Lee. It is their fifth collaboration together. And suddenly, the announcement. And suddenly, the surprise screening of memorable scenes from a memorable career. And suddenly, the emotion, the emotion of the giants. "I am thrilled. It is a great opportunity to collaborate with my brother again, and to be back here in Cannes. In this room, we are all privileged: we make movies, we wear tuxedos, and we are well paid for doing our job. We have been blessed beyond measure. From the bottom of my heart, thank you," he said. And he said it suddenly. Beautiful.
What followed was the actual movie, which, let's admit it, was scary at first. There is a facet of Spike Lee's filmography that causes some panic. And it has nothing to do with his most identifiable activist, militant, and confrontational style, which is always appreciated, but with the casual way in which he deconstructs classics that we are told are untouchable in schools. In Chi-Raq, he adapted Aristophanes' Lysistrata and felt satisfied with his particular interpretation of the women's sex strike. And in Pass Over, he offered his own version of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot on the streets of modern Chicago. In both cases, he came out content and very successful. In this same vein, he takes on High and Low (1963) by Akira Kurosawa and turns one of the most peculiar and murky thrillers in cinema history into a fun story of kidnappings, lost money, music (lots of music), and a superb Denzel Washington who raps and is impossible not to fall in love with. Yes, it is, strictly speaking, nonsense. But brilliant, no doubt.
To set the stage and refresh our memory, we are faced with the dilemma of a wealthy businessman whose son is kidnapped by a gang of thugs. Or so it seems at first. Our hero, who in the original film was the gigantic Toshiro Mifune and in this one is the no less monumental Washington, hesitates: pay the ransom, save his son, and go bankrupt, or not. In other words, do not pay and lose his son, but keep the money he needs to settle one of those debts that, if not paid, leave one without a life. The biggest difference between the two, besides almost everything (the two-act structure is preserved, albeit distantly), is the setting and motivations of the characters. Now it is about a great music producer (of black music, of course), and it is around this art, which is also business and even a political manifesto, that everything revolves.
Obviously, we are not facing a masterpiece like Do the Right Thing or, further back, Do the Right Thing. But it does not seek or pretend to be. Highest 2 Lowest moves across the screen with a catchy, playful, joking, and always iconoclastic rhythm that, let's admit it, is not easy to adapt to at first. Prejudices are many (always) and until one realizes all the things missed due precisely to those prejudices, it is hard to get into it. But once the barrier of one's own stupidity is overcome (which does not always happen), everything flows. And that is when Lee's ideology emerges full and brilliant, when the vindication of authentic black music challenges the more commercial rap, when the hero understands his role as a service to the community, and when New York is once again described with as much tenderness as cruelty. And that is when Lee allows, from time to time, the actors to look at the camera for no reason. Or for those same actors to hug each other twice in the same sequence simply by offering the same action from two different angles. Or for Denzel Washington himself to rap like no one has done before. It's Lee.
The result is one of those movies that enjoy their mistakes because they are aware of them and because they become strong in them; a movie that, in truth, is a joint. It's Lee. It's free. It's fun. And it's dressed in colors next to a Denzel Washington who doesn't fit. It is moving to see a giant being moved.