When news broke that Spike Lee was remaking Akira Kurosawa’s crime classic High and Low, you’d be forgiven for feeling at least a little nervous. The director’s track record when it comes to reinterpreting beloved cinema is far from stellar: his 2013 take on Park Chan-wook’s cult classic Oldboy was less a reimagining and more a greatest-hits highlight reel that failed to capture the exhilarating yet queasy spirit of Park’s film.

N o filmmaker loves the dirty old town that is New York more than Spike Lee. Some of us who live there will return from a day out and about—a day whose adventures might include

Denzel Washington and Spike Lee have been collaborators for a long time, but it seems like Highest 2 Lowest will be their last project together.