Spike Lee doesn’t make films; he throws mirrors at the face of the world. Premiering out of competition at the 2025 Festival de Cannes, Highest 2 Lowest might be, since Do the Right Thing (1989), another journey into the heart of American contradictions. The moral compass spins amid skyscrapers and subway tracks, and his camera doesn’t judge, but it doesn’t forgive either.
Highest 2 Lowest is a taut neo-noir thriller that reimagines Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low through the lens of contemporary urban US. It marks the fifth (and reportedly final) collaboration between Spike Lee and Denzel Washington, who is also receiving an honorary Palme d’Or this year. Washington portrays David King, a revered music mogul known for his impeccable ear, whose life unravels when his assistant’s son is kidnapped in a case of mistaken identity with his son. The moral dilemma forces King to confront the brutal gap between wealth and responsibility.
The story unfolds against the electric backdrop of New York City, and Spike Lee is one of the few directors who captures the megalopolis so vividly. In Highest 2 Lowest, the city becomes a character in itself, as present and pulsating as in the films of Scorsese. And if New York is a character, so is the music. Howard Drossin’s score swings between dissonant jazz and hard-edged hip-hop, echoing the protagonist’s internal conflict. The rest of the cast includes Ilfenesh Hadera as King’s grounded, unwavering wife; Jeffrey Wright plays his assistant; and A$AP Rocky as Yung Felony, a figure embodying the city's raw energy.
The film’s aesthetic is meticulously crafted, with cinematographer Matthew Libatique capturing the city’s dichotomy of opulence and grit. Each frame breathes in step with the rhythm of the streets, with a gaze that feels as poetic as it is documentary. And the colour palette — those hues of a wounded city still pulsing with life bathed in the flashing ambulance reds and police blues, flickering bodega fluorescents, and golden dusk spilling from rooftops. Production designer Mark Friedberg builds a world where luxury penthouses coexist with graffiti-scarred alleyways, reflecting the film’s themes of disparity and moral ambiguity.
Lee weaves a powerful narrative with his signature pulse: his ability to reflect the complexities of urban life and moral conflict through cinema remains unmatched. For me, all of Spike Lee’s films orbit around one core idea: poetic justice. Not courtroom verdicts, but that sharper kind — when the system fails, and fate intervenes with a twist.
Highest 2 Lowest is a co-production between A24 (they even appear in a frame as an apartment number) and Apple Studios, alongside Lee’s own 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks. It hits US theatres on August 22, followed by streaming on Apple TV+ starting September 5.