CANNES, France (AP) — There’s no enough approach of explaining what it’s wish to be round Spike Lee, however his new movie, “Highest 2 Lowest” comes fairly shut.
The principle character, performed by Denzel Washington, is a Knicks fan who gained’t tolerate Celtics inexperienced in his home. A framed jersey of Jalen Brunson hangs in his Brooklyn condo. There are film references peppered all through, of “The French Connection,” “The Defiant Ones” and “The Sweet Smell of Success.” Yankee Stadium performs a pivotal setting. In a single scene, Nicholas Turturro even yells straight into the digicam: “Boston sucks!”
“We’re not counting on Boston for box office!” Lee says with a roaring cackle throughout an interview on a rooftop terrace in Cannes. “We might as well just write that off.”
A few of Lee’s most deeply felt passions — filmmaking and the New York Knicks — have collided on the Cannes Movie Pageant. The premiere of “Highest 2 Lowest,” a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s “High to Low,” got here shortly earlier than the Knicks start their Japanese Convention finals matchup with the Indiana Pacers. In all places Lee has gone on the French Riviera pageant, he’s gone in blue and orange, together with a pinstripe swimsuit on the pink carpet.
“It’s a film by a New Yorker who loves New York. But if you’re not that, it doesn’t detract from you enjoying it. You could be from … (Lee raises an eyebrow) … Indiana,” Lee says earlier than letting out a maniacal roar. “Wait a minute, we got to write off another market, too!”
The Denzel fracas on the pink carpet
“Highest 2 Lowest,” which A24 releases in theaters Aug. 22 earlier than it streams on Apple TV+ on Sept. 5, was one of the eventful premieres of Cannes. Washington was stunned with a Palme d’Or. (“That wasn’t acting,” Lee stated. “He didn’t know. Only three or four people knew.”) Washington additionally received in an indignant tangle with a photographer on the pink carpet after his arm was grabbed.
“I wish I could’ve told that photographer: ‘Do not touch Denzel Washington or it’s going to be a (expletive) problem,’” Lee says, laughing. “The headline, ‘Man on Fire,’ hoooooo! That was a good headline.”
Lee then picks up the digital recorder mendacity in entrance of him and says in a relaxed, skilled voice: “Ladies and gentleman, this is a public service announcement. Do not put your hands on Mr. Denzel Washington. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Thank you very much.”
However Lee, 68, has been more than pleased to combine it up in Cannes. Earlier than an interview, he taunted European journalists about his adopted Premier League staff, Arsenal. On the press convention earlier within the day, he quoted Yoda for his major message to movie college students: “There is no try, only do.” Stated Lee: “Are you faking the funk or are you serious?”
Lee’s historical past with Cannes
Lee, who final debuted 2018’s “BlacKkKlansman” in Cannes, tried to keep away from saying something too pointed about President Donald Trump. However couldn’t assist himself when requested in regards to the ethical selections that mark “Highest 2 Lowest.”
“I don’t know how much we can talk about American values considering who is president,” Lee informed reporters.
Lee was additionally on an apology tour on the pageant. 4 years in the past, he was the pinnacle of the jury that awarded Julia Ducournau’s “Titane” the Palme d’Or. Solely Lee, confused by the French-language ceremony, by chance revealed the winner too quickly. “Oh, that’s a big one,” stated Lee, shaking his head. “That’s going down in the history of Cannes.”
Simply forward of Lee’s interview with The Related Press, Ducournau, in Cannes along with her “Titane” follow-up, “Alpha,” crossed the terrace to warmly embrace him. Recalling “Titane,” Lee stated, “A car impregnates a woman? You gotta win. You got my vote.”
An ode to Kurosawa that is uniquely Spike Lee
“Highest 2 Lowest” has been known as a remake of “High and Low,” however the diploma to which it’s a Spike Lee joint stunned festivalgoers. Washington performs David King, a rich document label govt whose son, together with the son of his pal and driver (Jeffrey Wright), is kidnapped for ransom. The kidnapper, performed by A$AP Rocky, by chance releases the incorrect younger man, leaving King with the choice to fork over the $17.5 million ransom for a younger man who’s not his son.
The movie is, partially, an ode to Kurosawa, whom Lee found as a movie scholar at NYU. He credit his “Rashomon” as the idea of “She’s Gotta Have It.” He met Kurosawa briefly as soon as and has an autograph from the Japanese grasp signed with a paint brush. “I got to shake his hand,” says Lee.
“I grew up with my mother taking me to musicals,” he says. “The Sound of Music” was one. If you happen to hearken to that nice tune by Rogers and Hammerstein with Julie Andrews singing it. What did Coltrane do to it? That’s my analogy. What Coltrane did to ‘My Favorite Things,’ I feel that’s what we did with this.”
“Highest 2 Lowest” is much less pushed as a Kurosawa homage than by Lee’s personal obsessions: New York, music, the ethical dilemmas of a Black entertainer and, sure, that Boston sucks. Above all, it’s one other Lee protagonist pressured to do the correct factor.
“I’m glad you said that. I never thought about that connected to the decisions David King has to make,” Lee says. “But what you see is the turmoil he’s going through. He’s going through it. A moral decision. Money on one hand, a life on the other.”
A (possibly) final hurrah for Spike and Denzel
Greater than any current movie of his, you’ll be able to sense Lee having enjoyable. Again in New York. Again with Denzel. “Highest 2 Lowest” is Lee and Washington’s fifth movie collectively however the first in 19 years after 2006’s “Inside Man.” “It’s not like we needed to catch up,” Lee says. “We never lost a step.”
However Lee suspects “Highest 2 Lowest” marks the top of their collaboration — certainly one of cinema’s best actor-director pairings, spanning “Mo’ Better Blues,” “Malcolm X” and “He Got Game.”
“That’s what he says,” Lee shrugs, citing Washington’s retirement plans. “And then the other day he’s doing a film with the guy from ‘City of God,’ so. Denzel put that on himself: ‘I’m doing this thing and then I’m retiring.’ I’ll believe it when he hangs it up.”
“Highest 2 Lowest” reaches a blistering crescendo when King confronts Rocky’s kidnapper in a basement recording studio. A type of rap battle ensues that Lee provides a lot of the credit score to Washington for. The actor improvised lots of his lyrics, drawing closely from Nas. (“That was not scripted,” says Lee. “We had to pay for that!”)
“People don’t understand. Denzel is such a powerful force. Not a derogatory term, but he’s a beast. If you got somebody who don’t got it, Denzel is going to slaughter them. SLAUGHTER,” Lee explains. “Rocky is from Harlem, uptown. So I knew that he’s not going to punk out. He’s going to stand there, feet planted to the ground, as a heavyweight fight, blow to blow to blow.”
For Lee, the scene is a summation of what he loves about moviemaking and what delights him a lot courtside at Madison Sq. Backyard.
“People want to see a championship fight, and that’s what it is. That is, in boxing terms, a slugfest,” says Lee. ”That makes nice cinema. It makes nice sports activities. You’ve received battle. It’s a battle, they usually’re slugging it out.”
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Jake Coyle has coated the Cannes Movie Pageant since 2012. He’s seeing roughly 40 movies at this 12 months’s pageant and reporting on what stands out.
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For extra protection of the 2025 Cannes Movie Pageant, go to: https://apnews.com/hub/cannes-film-festival
