The bad sleep well

I love both the title and the film made in 1960 by Akira Kurosawa. It is more than 2 hours long, but there has never been a dull moment. It captures the Japanese corporate culture vividly (or at least the one, stereotypical ones? that we know of) and explores in depth the true complicity in human: where lust, evil, love and tenderness can be bundled together in the main characters.

The film starts with a group of journalists rushing into a grand hall to observe a wedding in process. Amazingly, in the nearly 15 minutes sequence, the bunch of suit wearing journalists have all remained a respectful distance from the main hall where the invited guests are. They must be what can be called 'paperrazzis', trying to catch the latest development of a corruption scandal. Yet how civil and different they are from the contemporary ones! Even those with cameras have stayed away from the action/main hall and would only take snaps when they are instructed by, apparently, their superiors, who do not seem to carry anything with them! Not even a pen or piece of paper. Those were the days then when strict social and class distinction is still at work, and that although the competitiveness of media industry was already evident, rivals are still sharing their insiders' knowledge.

I have apparently watched a number of films by the lead actor Toshiro Mifane who plays the son-in-law in the film, both in works by the same director and others. On the cover, it says that he played the bandit in Roshomon, but no matter how hard I tried, I just could not figure out which role he was playing in this one! Perhaps this is just a proof of how versatile he had been. I might revisit Red Beard and Spider Web Castle, just for the performance from one of the greatest actor in Japan.

I was not convinced of the proclaimed greatness of Aikra Kurasawa, but after The Bad Sleep Well, I think I might have changed my mind a bit.

Coincidentally I have also got Shakespeare Retold in my pile of DVDs from the library and I would love to see how they differ in adapting Shakespeare in contemporary settings.