The Bad Sleep Well (1960)

26Aug09

The Bad Sleep Well IMDB Link

Directed By: Akira Kurosawa

Written By: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo Oguni, Ryuzo Kikushima, Mike Y. Inoue, Eijirô Hisaita

Starring: Toshirô Mifune

“One thing that distinguishes Akira Kurosawa is that he didn’t make a masterpiece or two masterpieces, he made, you know, eight masterpieces”

- Francis Ford Coppola

The Bad Sleep Well feels very modern for having been made nearly 50 years ago. It courageously dives into the seedy underworld of corporate greed and just how far they go to keep their modern day empires. The worst part? They always win. How do you beat money and power? You don’t. Well, maybe.

In one of the best opening scenes to any movie we start with a wedding reception. The bride is crippled and needs help just to walk the aisle. Business men uncomfortably shift as they watch. Once everyone is seated the elevator door rings and a flood of reporters comes crashing in yelling about corruption, scandal and arrests. Police arrive, some men leave, some men come back. Information is being whispered to those in power. Fake composure is kept as the ceremonies must take place and all the while the reporters are feeding us bits of information from past scandals and the players involved.

And while all this silent commotion is taking place we see our star actor, Kurosawa’s partner in crime, Thoshiro Mifune as the groom standing silently and without emotion next to his crippled bride. The nervousness mounts and so do the similes from the reporters who love watching these men squirm and it all culminates in a mysterious cake of a building with a flag sticking out a window where someone supposedly committed suicide.

Someone once pointed out that when your watching a Kurosawa movie sometimes you think something and a character will say it out loud. How does this amazing twenty minute intro scene end? With reporters jabbering.

“Helluva Wedding”

“Truly Bizarre”

“Best one-act I’ve ever scene”

“One-act? This is just the prelude. “

* cue montage *

Years later Kurosawa commented that he made the film too soon. It’s nearly 50 years later and the film feels like it’s talking about now. There are lots of twists and turns, reveals, confusing relationship and deception. And on top of this well written story is again the mastery of scene construction of Kurosawa.

There is his signature pan focus in a lot of scenes and also an abundance of shots of the back of peoples heads. I think the reason he did this was not only for you to concentrate and follow the actor who is facing the screen but so many times you can just imagine how the other actor is reacting and something that’s more effective and powerful.   And I don’t think anyone ever thinks “I think that scene would have been better had it been directed like X” because Kurosawa never seemed to make that mistake.

Coppola is right. Not only did Kurosawa create a ton of masterpieces but they can all still be revered, appreciated and studied today. Just his framing alone tells so much story with so little. A true master.

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Tags: Kurosawa, Mifune, movie review, The Bad Sleep Well, Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru