Viewed on DVD. The "Iron Triangle" is a label often applied to inherently corrupt (by the standards of most Giajin) and inclusive business relationships consisting of government ministry bureaucrats, a major financial institution, and a large corporate monopoly where each is in the pockets of the others (to, of course, gain/retain power and get rich before and/or after "retirement"). Script (and its execution) in this film has it's moments, both good and bad. Among the latter: a mother who conveniently (and within seconds) finds an old funeral photo that just happens to include Toshira Mifune (who is her illegitimate son) that looks like a PR shot; and a glass of wine laced with poison (or so we are lead to believe) that turns out to be a sedative. Very uneven direction: players like Mifune and actress Kyoko Kagawa deliver restrained, solid, and believable performances; others are allowed to over act to the point of becoming self caricatures and cartoon figures. Kagawa's role is small, but critical. She projects the fundamental sweetness of her character to the point of stealing most of the scenes she is in. Deep focus cinematography (where both the foreground and background are in focus) is most impressive. Foley (i.e., dubbed sound effects) is marginal: even those wearing sandals or men's shoes sound like they have high heels on! The music score is, well, simply terrible: it grates on the ears and greatly distracts from rather than adding to the film experience. All in all, an OK movie, but no cigar. WILLIAM FLANIGAN, PhD.

First, let me say that I give this a only 9 because it is not quite a perfect film, but it is almost perfect.Second, Kurosawa does a great job of basing this film on Hamlet without making the plot predictable at all. The characters are all there, although some are merged together, and some are split into multiple characters. The amazing thing is how Kurosawa manages to keep the atmosphere of Hamlet there, even while the plot is different. For instance, the opening scene is reminiscent of the scene where Claudius is throwing a party after taking power. In the play, everything goes smoothly until Hamlet steps out of line. In the movie, it's not the Hamlet character that steps out of line, but rather the Laertes character, as we realize later. For another example, there's a scene where it seems the Hamlet character forces an analog of the King to drink poison. For these reasons, I would not call this movie a "loose" adaptation, but a quite faithful one, unlike, say, The Lion King, or the Zeffirelli version ;)Third, this movie explores some themes not discussed in Hamlet. It covers revenge, but in more detail than Hamlet, in this fashion resembling Romeo and Juliet. In fact, there are many parts where it seems Romeo and Juliet motifs are blurred in with Hamlet motifs. It explores the subject of corporate inhumanity, an issue relevant to our own time, the corruption of man when he begins to value money over human life. It covers forgiveness and pity, and the question, "What is the best way to deal with people who have no conscience and cannot be reformed?" Again, this theme is not explored so much in Hamlet. Toshiro Mifune's Hamlet is much less introspective than the real Hamlet, but develops much more intricate schemes. So another issue in this movie is how to infiltrate a corporation.Fourth, this movie maintains suspense throughout, not in spite of the fact that it's based on a well-known play, but partly with the help of that fact, since the outcome is often not what we would expect, and this always leaves us asking, "What happens next?" Also, "What is real and what isn't?"Finally, and this is a big spoiler: The ending. The Ophelia and Laertes character arrive to find the Horatio character bewailing the death of Nishi-Hamlet. At first, you might think he's faking it. This suspicion, if you have it, will detract from the drama of the scene, and that's the only reason I don't give the movie a perfect score. Then it dawns on you he's not faking it, and the movie ends the way it does. That's ending 1. But it's open to another interpretation. Notice, there's no body in the car, at least I don't remember one. What if Horatio was using Ophelia and Laertes, according to Hamlet's instructions, and Hamlet's still at large? That's ending 2. That means that Hamlet was manipulating Ophelia even more than Claudius, what a jerk!

Starkly melodramatic, THE BAD SLEEP WELL is a fascinating look at corruption rampant among large corporations--this time in Japan. It takes its time to get to the heart of the story--a man who seeks revenge for his father's suicidal death by assuming another identity and marrying the corrupt official's daughter solely to get inside the criminal structure and carry out his plan.Told in stark B&W in modern day Japan of the 1960s, it offers a compelling story that begins with exposition told through newsmen and photographers who have come to the wedding of TOSHIRO MIFUNE. The script is taut even though the tale takes far too long to tell. Once you start watching the story unfold, it's difficult to turn away despite the overlong running time.All the performances are excellent, if a bit over-the-top at times, and there are flaws--such as some of the important events happening off screen and recited by others in order to move the plot forward.Summing up: An intricate and intriguing study of revenge on a grand scale.

Akira Kurosawa's 1960 black and white film, The Bad Sleep Well (Warui Yatsu Hodo Yoku Nemuru), is often compared to William Shakespeare's Hamlet, but it's an inapt comparison for, while Shakespeare's play has a higher sense of poetry, Kurosawa's film has far more relevance, realism, and complexity, even if, like Hamlet, it's a high class melodrama. The film was written by Kurosawa and four collaborators- Shinobu Hashimoto, Eijirô Hisaita, Ryuzo Kikushima, and Hideo Oguni. Because it has Shakespearean pedigree, and is not set in medieval Japan, this film has not gotten its proper due, in comparison with the classics that Kurosawa made earlier in his career, such as Rashomon, Ikiru, and Seven Samurai. But, it should, for, despite its melodramatic bent, and film noir roots- heightened by Masaru Sato's wonderful soundtrack, which alternates the darkness of certain moments with almost carnivalesque music, the film is superbly paced and well written, for within the film's opening sequences at a corporate wedding, fully Westernized with a Here Comes The Bride rendition, covered by the jackal-like press- reminiscent of the paparazzi in the prior year's Federico Fellini masterpiece La Dolce Vita, ready to pounce on any irregularity, because of a budding scandal, and the subsequent brilliant montage of newspaper headlines that puts those used by Hollywood in pre-World War Two gangster films to shame, the bulk of the film's narrative setup is displayed, and allowed to unravel for the next two hours, albeit almost never following the standard melodramatic arc of allowing the characters' dumbest possible actions dictate the plot. Because of this, the film's ending is both realistic, and one of the most chilling in film history. Perhaps only Dr. Strangelove's scenes of Armageddon are more chilling, however leavened by that film's final scenes' editing.The cinematography, by longtime Godzilla series mainstay Yuzuru Aizawa, is superb. The scenes where Nishi and Wada drive Shirai mad are masterful example of pure black and white cinematography that rivals the best of the masterful Carl Theodor Dreyer. And while all the acting is first rate by the supporting cast, with the usual stellar work of Takashi Shimura as Moriyama, the perfectly restrained evil of Masayuki Mori as Iwabuchi, not to mention the wonderfully over the top looniness of Kô Nishimura as Shirai, the stellar cravenness of Kamatari Fujiwara as Wada, the semi-incestuous off kilter performance of Tatsuya Mihashi as Tatsuo, and the hammy enigmatic performance of Takeshi Katô as Itakura (the real Nishi), this film belongs to Toshirô Mifune as Nishi (the real Itakura), for, unlike his wildly over the top-however terrific, work in Rashomon and Seven Samurai, he truly gets to display the full range of his acting chops in his boiling rages- he declares, when trying to toss Shirai out the same window his father fell from, 'Even now they sleep soundly, with grins on their faces. I won't stand for it! I can never hate them enough!', his hiding of them as a corporate secretary, his acts of kindness that ultimately do him in, and in his love tenderly restrained scenes with Yoshiko, especially one where he tells of how his obsession with his father after his death is only matched by the hatred he felt for the man before his death. His internalized anguish allows Mifune to act with small gestures, not grand ones, and scenery chewing gives way to real emoting. Of the three roles I've seen him in, this is his best….easily. It takes a good half hour of the film's unfolding, though, before Nishi even emerges as the film's central character, and puppetmaster- although, ultimately, he is no match for Iwabuchi, who's been doing it longer and better. That's how much confidence Kurosawa has in his filmic and narrative talents, for imagine a Tom Cruise or Julia Roberts film going a half hour into the plot without a major scene for them. Mifune was that big a star in his day, but the film is always bigger.The DVD, by The Criterion Collection, is shown in a 2.35:1 widescreen ratio, but lacks an English soundtrack, Considering the tremendous amount of white in the film, especially in the wedding scenes, the white subtitles are very difficult to read. There's also a trailer, and a thirty-three minute episode of the Akira Kurosawa: It Is Wonderful To Create documentary series on the making of this film. The insert includes two essays- one by Chuck Stephens, of Film Comment, and one by director Michael Almereyda. The former is a lightweight take on the film and the latter a strained attempt at, yet again, linking the film to Hamlet.Despite such senseless flagellations, The Bad Sleep Well is an excellent film, and every bit as worthy of being talked about as a masterpiece, as are Ikiru and Seven Samurai. It is, if only because of the weak end of Rashomon, even better than that universally acknowledged classic, and far better than almost all the American film noirs that I've seen, despite its melodrama. If Shakespeare teaches one thing it's that the difference between true drama and melodrama is often only the excellence of its presentation. On that score, this film is a great drama, even if, ultimately and in the real world, the bad really do sleep well.