Bad Sleep Well, the

 

 

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After viewing Ran my initial reaction was simple awe. I had never before seen such a stunning epic, and never had the story of King Lear been adapted so poetically and viscerally. There has not been a film since that has come close to the way I perceived Ran, I was simply blown away.

After viewing a few more Kurosawa pictures I came upon one entitled 'Throne of Blood'. While I felt it was defiantly one of Kurosawa's stronger pictures, it also seemed to lack the Shakespearian atmosphere that Ran had. I liked it, but felt it was closer to The Seven Samurai as oppose to Ran.

Then, later still, I came upon The Bad Sleep Well. I expected something similar to Throne of Blood, with Kurosawa's 50s-60s atmosphere rather then his 80s-90s atmosphere. Well it turned out that I was wrong. The Bad Sleep Well is easily Kurosawa's most underrated picture, overshadowed by Yojimbo & Sanjuro afterward, and The Hidden Fortress before. The Bad Sleep Well however, does not take the same ambiance as those pictures, rather it shows a flash of Kurosawa's elderly genius from such pictures as Kagemusha and Ran(not to undermine his early genius, its just that the film feels much like one of his later pictures). I won't bother going into detail on the story, as most are already familiar with Shakespeare's Hamlet, and American film-noir; but what I will tell you however, is how well it adapts to the story(s), and that its narrative really flows at a great pace.

The Bad Sleep Well features a great performance by Toshiro Mifune, playing the Hamlet character in a very interesting way, similar in some ways to Laurence Olivier's 1948 version. His performance is what steals the show; although I thought there were some interesting supporting roles, none really stand up to his sheer intensity.

The film stays as true to the play as possible in a modern Japan setting, keeping the essentials and retaking bits and pieces to give it a different, almost more nihilist feel. The changes flow smoothly though, and the film can be nicely appreciated by both fans of both William Shakespeare and Akira Kurosawa.

I give the Bad Sleep Well 8/10. It's not Ran or Rashomon, but it is defiantly one of his strongest pictures that is not regarded as a total masterpiece. Defiantly check it out, you will not be disappointed.

I can't believe the other reviewers were reviewing the same dvd. This is a great movie, don't get me wrong. It's Kurasawa, after all. My one star is for the people at Mei Ah who put out this dvd. Whoever did the subtitle translation did not speak English well enough to graduate from a level one ESL class. The subtitles are truly terrible, sometimes bizarre, and I thought at times I was dreaming I was watching a Monty Python skit. Alas, I was not; this was for real. Such a shame.

This film is really unique (even for Kurosawa) in that it captures all of the mystery, suspense, and angst of a noir, while maintaining the very same majestic gravitas as *Seven Samurai*, *Throne of Blood*, *Ran* or any of Kurosawa's great medieval epics.

Indeed much of Kurosawa's best work carries a highly distinctive and supremely confident muscular swagger which can be found here in the stirring (and rather addictive) musical motif, the altogether patient and very deliberate pacing, and the seemingly effortless transitions he makes between the tragic and the comic.

*The Bad Sleep Well* often gets described as a variation on *Hamlet*. The key word here is "variation" (rather than "version" or "adaptation"), for while Kurosawa might have begun with Shakespeare, the final products really don't turn out to be in any sense all that similar. There is no Gertrude, no Rozencrantz and Guildenstern, let alone any gravediggers (just to name a few), and there is very little structural resemblance between the stories (inasmuch as *Hamlet* can be said to have any sort of structure). For example, the finale doesn't conclude with virtually *everybody* getting killed--after all, in Kurosawa's framework the bad sleep well (and consequently live happily ever after). Also, Nishi's character is much less ambiguous than Hamlet's; while he may at certain junctures fail to take his plan for revenge the entire way, he doesn't come close to sharing the overall indecision and confusion of Hamlet. But these sorts of differences actually make the complex interrelationship between the two works all the more intriguing and thought-provoking.

The film's story might eventually become "clear as a bell," but it certainly does not start out that way. Don't get discouraged if during the first twenty minutes (or even half hour) you're having trouble figuring out what's going on, or who's who, esp. during the opening wedding sequence. But I think such initial confusion might be intended, because it really does set your mind aworking to help put the pieces of the puzzle together and to understand the various characters' motivations. (It should be noted, by the way, that the selfless and straightforward acting in Kurosawa's films is amongst the best you will ever see.)

I wouldn't recommend this as someone's first or (God forbid!) only Kurosawa. But if you've been struck by something you've seen of his already, then you most certainly will not want to miss *The Bad Sleep Well*.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Based on Hamlet
Most people who watch Akira Kurosawa's films don't seem to read much Shakespere. Of course, I may be wrong. Read more

Published on July 13 2003 by Elizabeth Selvia

3.0 out of 5 stars Mildly interesting film for die-hard Kurosawa fans only.
Unless you are a die-hard Kurosawa fan or an Ed McBain fan, this film is not a great one. Nowhere near the brilliance of other Kurosawa modern-day films like High & Low, Stray Dog... Read more

Published on April 15 2003 by Vinny Mac

2.0 out of 5 stars Japanese artfilm-false buy??
I thought-someone told me that-Ed McBain was the writer of the short story,where the movie was based on.That's why I bought it. Read more

Published on Mar 1 2002 by J. ENGELS

5.0 out of 5 stars One of AK's best
It is unfortunate that Luanne Brown's editorial review of The Bad Sleep Well is so negative. The beginning is no more "tedious" or "flawed" than the ending is... Read more

Published on Nov 30 2001 by Dax

5.0 out of 5 stars Deceit and betrayal in the world of the salaryman
"The Bad Sleep Well" is a great movie. Imagine taking the major characters of "Hamlet," and casting them in a new plot. Read more

Published on Nov 1 2001 by Zack Davisson

5.0 out of 5 stars Truely a 'great' movie
This represents Kurosawa at the height of his game. Everything 'works' in this movie! The acting as usual is fabulous. The cinematography is great. The music fits perfectly. Read more

Published on Oct 15 2001

5.0 out of 5 stars Not so sweet revenge!
It amazes me how contempory Kurosawa's movies are. The plot and characters in this film are as believable today as they were forty years ago. Read more

Published on Aug 18 2001 by Penny N. Vilela

5.0 out of 5 stars What can I say? See It!
There really were cover-up suicides by government officials at the time this movie was made. So this movie is also a sort of social commentary; the only such movie by Kurosawa... Read more

Published on Jun 25 1999 by Hitoshi Noguchi

5.0 out of 5 stars Rare combination of style and substance
The Bad Sleeps Well is near-perfection: from the showy introduction of the wedding banquet to the riveting conclusion of BAD-man Iwabuchi's (Mori in an almost unrecognisable role)... Read more

Published on May 9 1999

5.0 out of 5 stars Please don't miss this film!
Amazingly, there are three (count 'em) early Kurasawa's on my all-time top twenty list of films, _Stray Dog_, _High and Low_ and _The Bad Sleep Well_. A classic thriller. Read more

Published on Jan 22 1999

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