Koichi Nishi (Toshiro Mifune) is distraught after his father's demise, which he blames on the cutthroat corporate environment in which he worked. Desperate to avenge his father's senseless death, Koichi begins to tamper with the sanity of each person who ever wronged the man. He starts with the cake at his very own wedding; per Koichi's instructions, the confection has been specially crafted to remind the attendees of their darkest secrets. ...
Opening with a bravura wedding sequence and ending with a sycophantic bow to a replaced telephone receiver, the film has its longueurs, but Mifune's buttoned-down avenger is a compelling portrait of righteous obsession foundering on unpredictable reality.
This is a powerful and interesting picture that Kurosawa has made -- a bit tedious and mawkish in the last reels, but exciting enough along the way to satisfy audiences that know the subject.
t is almost an anti-thriller, but viewers who are willing to steep themselves in the intricacies of Japanese ceremonies and the banal details of evil will find the experience highly rewarding.
Kurosawa rather loaded the film on the side of social significance, while neglecting to capitalise on the noir aspects that underlie it. Even so, his use of the 'scope screen is masterly.
A sterling Shakespearean noir, Kurosawa's critique of unchecked corporate power functions as an uncharacteristically despondent counterpoint to his trademark humanism.
The Bad Sleep Well is one of Akira Kurosawa's more contemporary classics borrowing from film noir and Shakespeare respectively. Kurosawa's direction and storytelling skills areas always top shelf and its nice to know that a clean-shaven Toshiro Mifune was able to hold his own even without a top knot and a sword in
hand. Plenty of great moments are slightly thrown off by some vaguely uneven pacing in the last act and an ending that left a little to be desired. This definitely isn't to say The Bad Sleep Well should be avoided, just probably not for the novice or intermediate Kurosawa enthusiast.
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