Spike Lee previews new film Highest 2 Lowest at MVAAFF
Highest 2 Lowest is a bold reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller High and Low, reimagined in modern-day New York City.
OAK BLUFFS, Mass. — The 23rd Annual Martha’s Vineyard African-American Film Festival (MVAAFF) offered a cinematic jolt with an advanced screening of scenes from Highest 2 Lowest, the much-anticipated new film from director Spike Lee and star Denzel Washington.
The new Spike Lee Joint marks the fifth collaboration between the two legends, who last teamed up for Inside Man in 2006.
Highest 2 Lowest is a bold reinterpretation of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 crime thriller High and Low, reimagined for the rhythms and realities of modern-day New York City.
“High and low is about a kidnapping and they snatched the wrong kid. This film is not a remake,” Lee explained to a sold-out crowd at the Martha’s Vineyard Performing Arts Center. “We all loved when Julie Andrews sang 'My Favorite Things,' but when John Coltrane did it…This is a reinterpretation.”
In this updated version, Washington plays a titan of the music industry—revered for his instincts and reputation as having “the best ears in the business”—who finds himself at the center of a ransom scheme gone wrong. What begins as a case of mistaken identity spirals into a gripping moral crisis that forces the protagonist to confront not only the price of power, but the limits of his own humanity.
“The moral dilemma: you think automatically, what would I do?” said Lee. “You would do anything for your child. But what would you do if it wasn’t your child.”
In classic Spike Lee fashion, Highest 2 Lowest blends cinematic intensity with ethical complexity, asking urgent questions that transcend genre: What do we owe to those who suffer in our place? How far would we go to protect our status, our loved ones—or our conscience?
The previewed scenes, introduced during the BLK#4 programming block at MVAAFF, showcased Lee’s signature visual style and Washington’s magnetic presence.
Mark Tyler
In the first scene shown, Washington and Harlem rapper A$AP Rocky, who plays his on-screen offspring, have a powerful exchange aptly capturing the father and son dynamic familiar to many who have raised strong-willed young Black men. In the second scene shown, Washington works mano a mano with veteran actor Jeffrey Wright. Washington uses an improvisation that left the film festival crowd in awe as Lee revealed that Washington has a unique ability to use anything in a room to expand a scene.
“We didn’t have coverage for this,” Lee said. “We put the camera in the middle and let the actors go.”
The cast also includes Broadway star LaChanze, veteran actor John Douglas Thompson, and rising star Ilfenesh Hadera who joined Lee on stage for a MVAAFF panel discussion called The Color of Conversation. Though rooted in the high-stakes world of entertainment and crime, the film’s emotional core is unmistakably universal. At its heart, Highest 2 Lowest is about the decisions that define us, especially when no option comes without sacrifice.
Many in the crowd were not only excited about the possibility of meeting Lee and hopefully getting memorabilia signed but also came to experience the comradery of Black success.
"I like Black people getting together to celebrate success," said Justin "B. Eveready" Bishop, of Boston. "It's beautiful to watch."
For Atlantic City Focus readers—and audiences everywhere—the film resonates with a question as old as drama itself: What kind of person are you when everything is on the line?
The full release of Highest 2 Lowest is expected on August 15, 2025.
For more on the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, visit www.mvaaff.com.
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