Sexylocher Masterful Movie

GetPapa Far from Perfect, Far from Terrible

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

ninecurses The themes are all there. The actors are wonderful. The story comes with built-in drama and suspense. And it's directed by Akira Kurosawa! But, for me, it doesn't work. Sadly, I say this, because he is one of favorite directors.For a start, it's just too long (150 min.). The story is slowed down and dragged out, where it should have been tightened. In those rare moments where I did feel the tension start to build, another over-long scene came along and deflated the suspense.I thought the opening was ridiculous. Too many members of the press at a wedding that will introduce the audience to the story and its players. But the press, about 10 of them, watching the wedding and commenting along the way, when they should/would never have been allowed into such a private function. Like a Greek chorus, but ineffective and obvious. The master started his movie poorly.Biggest offense of the film: Too much telling, not enough showing. Characters let us know everything: Not only their own backstories, but everyone else's. Not only their own emotions, but also those of others. Instead of showing us these people in their world, we the audience are told everything. And I do mean everything. How can you have intrigue and suspense when you don't give your audience the opportunity for discovery. It's all laid out for us, with too much on-the-nose telling.I give it 5/10 because there are a few nice scenes, and Mifune is awesome...as always! But this is definitely my least favorite of ALL Kurosawa's films.

ajoyce-222-935612 Once again we must bow at the feet of the master. Kurosawa's postwar Hamlet is rife with irony in its skillful, profound handling of the perennial 'question of evil.' The protagonist Nishi finds himself gradually becoming as corrupt and brutal in his own way as the degraded men he seeks to expose. Fallen corporate executive Wada and Nishi's wife, the daughter of the corrupt Public Corporation's CEO Iwabuchi, remain just about the only truly innocent characters. Even her brother is motivated by homicidal revenge. Then there's the irony of Nishi using underground ruins from a World War II bombing to hide his captive in. Kurosawa thus emphasizes the 'descent to hell' in a striking visual metaphor near the end of the film when Nishi's clever gamesmanship has resulted in him having to commit serious crimes in order to carry out his scheme for revenge. The setting may also double as an ironic commentary on the after-effects of the war on Japanese society in general. This so far is the most American Kurosawa film I've seen: the cars, clothes, the men's hair and some of the characters' mannerisms—even the executive Iwabuchi lives in a Western- style home. Is Kurosawa saying that American ways have corrupted Japanese society? That would have been shockingly bold when the film was made in 1960, with American money still pouring into the rebuilding of Japan. In many ways The Bad Sleep Well is also Kurosawa's tribute to the American film noir genre. Take away the Japanese dialogue and the urban Japanese setting and imagine it in Chicago or New York or LA, and even esthetically the look is noir. Kurosawa wastes no opportunity to depict the antihero Nishi casting a heavy shadow on the wall. In a less overt way, Nishi's naive bride is the classic noir femme fatale, in the sense that it's her who is fooled by her corrupt father into revealing her husband's hiding place. Just as in classic American noir, the men may be tough guys but when it comes to sacrificing their vision of virginal womanhood, they crumble.My favourite line in the film—and the one that probably sums up Kurosawa's theme in a single sentence: "You can't bring evil to justice by using the law." But if you're a brilliant film director, you can torture corrupt characters in cinematic hell for their crimes. The long opening sequence with the reporters observing the marriage of Iwabuchi's daughter to Nishi is positively delicious. As uncomfortable revelations are made by the public prosecutor, with the hungry press scooping every dirty detail, we get to watch the executives squirm. The entire stiff pantomime of the marriage ceremony (though with the Western wedding march) becomes both a satire of traditional ritual and a living purgatory for the guilty. Very much as it was for Hamlet's shattered family in the wake of a covered-up murder. Meanwhile the phalanx of reporters in The Bad Sleep Well becomes a kind of Greek chorus, providing the subtext to the unfolding event. Judging by Nishi's fate, Kurosawa also seems to be saying, "You can't bring evil to justice by using lawlessness." Which leaves one wondering: is there any solution to the problem of evil? If that's the message, then the film comes to an ultimately pessimistic conclusion about human nature, just as many noir classics do. An amazing achievement in film art.

lastliberal I can't help comparing Public Corporation Vice President Iwabuchi (Masayuki Mori) with Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood. Sure, Lewis was an over-the-top psychopath, and Iwabuchi most understated, but that is the Japanese character that Akira Kurosawa displays so well in all his films.No, this is not another samurai film. Those are well know, but the same talent gives us films that delve into the social problems of Japan, which are the same as we have today 50 years later in the U.S. - corrupt public officials and greedy corporate buzzards.Someone is out to bring them down, and the motivation comes as a complete surprise to those who can't see the clues as well as Sherlock Holmes. I was distracted by the prodigal son (Tatsuya Mihashi), and thought he may be behind it. Boy, was I surprised! You may suspect, but you have to wait until the last minute to see what type of man you are dealing with, but then I gave it away. He is as evil as Lewis.

RussyPelican The Bad Sleep Well is one of the best revenge movies of all time. It stars the great Toshiro Mifune as a man seeking revenge against the people who forced his father into committing suicide. Unlike many revenge movies, The Bad Sleep Well doesn't glamorize its subject. Instead it shows how in trying to get retribution for a man who is now dead, Mifune ends up injuring himself and other people he loves who are still alive. There are a lot of beautiful and haunting images, like when we see a desperate man struggling to climb a volcano so he can throw himself in, or a number of scenes that are shot at the bombed out wreckage of an old WWII munitions plant. The bleak landscape mirrors the damaged lives of the movie's characters. Powerful and haunting, this is a movie that will follow you for days.