The Bad Sleep Well

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Cast & Crew

Toshiro Mifune
Koichi Nishi

Takeshi Kato
Itakura

Masayuki Mori
Company President Iwabuchi

Kyoko Kagawa
Yoshiko Nishi

Tatsuya Mihashi
Tatsuo Iwabuchi

Takashi Shimura
Administrative Officer Moriyama

Kô Nishimura
Contract Officer Shirai

Akira Kurosawa
Director

Shinobu Hashimoto
Writer

Eijirô Hisaita
Writer

Ryûzô Kikushima
Writer

Akira Kurosawa
Writer

Hideo Oguni
Writer

Akira Kurosawa
Producer

Tomoyuki Tanaka
Producer

Masaru Satô
Original Music

Yuzuru Aizawa
Cinematographer

Akira Kurosawa
Film Editor

Yoshirô Muraki
Art Direction

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Critic Reviews for The Bad Sleep Well

Audience Reviews for The Bad Sleep Well

• Jul 02, 2019

  Come for the reworking of "Hamlet" in 1960s corporate Japan, stay for the tension filled Noir atmosphere.
  

  Alec B Super Reviewer
• Apr 18, 2013

  My first experience with a non period Kurosawa is no less watchable than any of his other films. You could take the issues of corporate corruption and place it within any era and have the themes still be relevant. Another timeless masterpiece.
  

  John B Super Reviewer
• Nov 28, 2011

  The film that inspired the wedding scene of The Godfather, and hailed "as perfect as it gets" by Francis Ford Coppola, was a hard movie to rate. A second viewing really helped put this movie into perspective. It was not a hard film to rate because it's awful or anything. I just kept going back and forth on whether its perfect or not. It's a very gripping psychological noir film by Kurosawa. But I felt it was not in the league of his masterpieces like Rashomon, Ikiru, or Seven Samurai. I think this is because at first the film is very slow, with the opening wedding scene being used as a means to introduce the characters and attempting to explain a bit of the shady deals between a government branch and a construction company. While being a strong commentary on corruption and the 'system' under which corporate world works, this film's main focus is it's at first mysterious groom Nishi (played by Toshiro Mifune with great refinement and restraint). He marries the daughter of a high official. The plot contains influences of Shakespeare's Hamlet, but is not completely faithful to the play. It is still a great movie nonetheless, with classic existential overtones which were seen in Kurosawa earlier films like The Idiot and Lower Depths. The atmosphere is a different one however as the film is set in contemporary modern day Japan (in 1960). Backed by good acting performances (a memorably villainous one by Takashi Shimura) and Kurosawa's excellent direction with lighting certain scenes (the scene in the office with Wada and Shirai comes to mind, where a flashlight is used to illuminate the characters). Kurosawa tells a unique story, which unfortunately seemed to be a little ambitious because at times the talking and explaining got a little tiresome. The great ending leaves me wondering if justice had been served. (plot spoiler) On the surface it seems that justice has not been served because of Nishi's outcome and the result of all his efforts. But in the end, Kurosawa does show Tatsuo and Yoshiko condemn and leave Iwabuchi for what he's done, so perhaps he got what he deserved by losing his two children. Or, on the other hand, it doesn't bother him at all and indeed the Bad will sleep soundly like the title states. This complex ending that the film arrives at certainly makes it a great film.
  G S Super Reviewer
• Sep 18, 2011

  Kurosawa directs in a tale of corporate corruption and revenge, it comes together well, borrowing heavily from shakespeare it has been said, especially hamlet, something hes done before. never boreing and story moves along greatly
  scott g Super Reviewer

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