In Highest 2 Lowest , Spike Lee ’s spirited (and starry) reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 noir High and Low , Ilfenesh Hadera plays Pam King, a woman living a nightmare. First, she learns that her enterprising, music mogul husband, David King (Denzel Washington, a joy), is mulling some risky-sounding financial machinations to regain control of Stackin’ Hits Records, his once-indomitable, now increasingly irrelevant label. Then, they find out that their teenage son, Trey, has been kidnapped from basketball practice.

What follows is a twisty, thrilling, frequently funny, slyly deep crime romp, complete with sweeping views of Dumbo, an eye-popping setpiece involving an elevated train line and the Puerto Rican Day Parade, and what can only be described as a spoken-word rap battle be

See Full Page