The Bad Sleep Well Director: Akira Kurosawa Product Group: DVD Release Date: 2003-12-02 Buy from Amazon

From Amazon.com essential video The Bad Sleep Well tells the story of corruption at the highest levels of Japanese business and its tragic consequences. Though flawed by a tedious introductory sequence and by an ending that seems out of sync with the story, it is a fascinating movie and the middle part is especially exciting. Japanese legend Toshiro Mifune plays Koichi Nishi, the seemingly stoic bridegroom who is trying to get ahead by marrying the boss's daughter, Kieko (Kyoko Kagawa), who was crippled as a girl. The bride's brother, in a shocking display, exposes the groom's motives during his wedding toast and threatens his new brother-in-law with death if he disappoints his sister. But Nishi is not who we think. He was born the illegitimate son of the man who Kieko's father, Iwabuchi (Maysayuki Mori), manipulated into suicide. Now Nishi wants revenge for his father's death. As Nishi slowly destroys Iwabuchi's life, he makes the fatal error of falling in love with his wife, who already loves him. Their unconsummated marriage stands between these two like a palpable pillar of stone. But just when we think the stone has been tossed aside by love, Iwabuchi finds out who his son-in-law really is. Shot in black and white, this film falls just short of being brilliant. Mifune is amazing in his portrayal of this complex man who lets his father's past destroy his own future, and Maysayuki Mori's performance as the evil Iwabuchi is understated but nonetheless chilling. --Luanne Brown

Customer Reviews: Total numer of reviews: 18 Average rating: 4.0 "Wrong Or Right Don't Matter Here" Possible plot point marked with #. Well...what to say about this Japaneese movie. One of the recommendations I had heard for similar movies was Ichi the Killer. Yup. A much less violent movie by far. But then again it was from 1960 so im assuming the censors wouldnt have allowed Ichi level violence back then. The basic story is (and this is told in the description of the movie, at least Netflixs description of it, so not really a spoiler) a person blames his fathers death, a suicide, on the company he worked for. So this person set out to make the lives of those held responsible a living hell. ###He literally drives one of the people clinically insane.### There is an air of creepiness to this character since he doesnt seem to have any remorse at all. ###Heck half the time hes whistling a sweet tune like hes in a Disney movie and trying to attract small woodland animals! This is even when hes about to go kill or torture someone! I found that very creepy and didnt want to ruin it for someone else who happens to skip this and watch the film. Although if you read this then oh well, guess youll just have to see if its still creepy when youre not taken by surprise by it.### What it intersting about this movie is the dynamic it sets up. You feel the man is vindicated in taking revenge for his fathers death. But at the same time you feel sorry for what he is putting these people through. When i watched it i ended up with a little bit of sympathy for both sides, blurring the line of what was right and wrong. One of the ways Kurosawa did this was ###the man who is torturing the people makes them think one of thier own is dead. But he keeps the person alive and hidden. So when they see the man they think they are seeing his ghost. This character also acts as a foil for the violent acts of the person. You can see him in the backgroud questioning this other mans intentions, but feeling helpless to do anything about them.### The dynamic itself propells this movie through its running time of close to three hours (2 hrs, 40 mins) The movie is on BOTH sides of the disk so dont be surprised if the movie abrubtly ends or starts somewhere in the middle for some reason. For me it took a while to get into what was going on and understand it. Part of the problem was the crappy subtitles. Engrish is very heavy here. I was laughing at some of them so hard i had missed what someone had said. Plus where youre having to read a movie, it helps if you understand what is being said. I think this movie also relies some on knowing the Japaneese culture some because there was terminology i just didnt get. They kept talking about The Public something. The Public what? This movie leaves you wondering just what good and bad really mean. Are there some bad acts that can be justified? Can good intentions be done for bad purposes? That murky gray area is explored intricately in this film. You run around lost in the fog for a couple of hours, unsure exactly where to go or how to feel and, even aftr the movies over and the fog has lifted, you still arent sure where to go from there. If youre in the mood for an interesting, thought provoking movie (and dont mind reading crappy subtitles) then id say check this one out. "Confused sources" First, there's an error from Home Vision Entertainment's description on the VHS version. The Bad Sleep Well is loosely based on Hamlet, and the Ed McBain novel mentioned in the description is the source for Kurosawa's High and Low instead. Second, I got past the subtitles on the DVD, but clearly they're English translations of the Chinese translations of the original Japanese. Besides the difficulties making the third-language English sound conversational, the name changes threw me off. I guess the translator used traditional Chinese forms of the names. Reading subtitles is one level of obstacle, not that hard to deal with, but then reimagining conversational dialogue, then trying to follow who's who without being able to go to a list of cast and characters. I'd like to see the VHS version to find out if that has more faithful subtitles. Good movie, but not easy to watch. "Good flick; Meh Ah Laser Disc Co." I purchased this because I heard the Criterion was releasing an unannounced version. The Chinese Mei Ah version has been out for a while and could be ordered well before this out of Hong Kong, so I was surprised when I opened the box and found the Mei Ah version. If you've ever mistakenly purchased a Mei Ah Japanese DVD, you'll know what I'm saying. These are produced for a Chinese market. A Chinese person translates the Japanese into Chinese. To broaden the market and perhaps sell to English speakers in Hong Kong, a Chinese person then translates the Chinese into English, or what's supposed to pass as English, but at times is closer to a pidgen language. I've already suffered through these translations with Mei Ah once and I'm returning this unadvertised version unopened and canceling my Dodes Kaden order (I already have that on Mei Ah, also, and though I enjoy this movie I've never made it through once with the DVD and watch my old VHS instead.) Short story: if you don't need the subtitles, this version will work. It may even work when you turn the Chinese subtitles on if you can read Chinese. But if you're an English speaker, you can laugh at the translations. Shame on Amazon for hoisting this over on us by not stating on the sales page that this is a Mei Ah import!! Movie: 5 stars from watching the VHS. DVD: 0 stars. "The worst subtitles awards goes to..." 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. "Classic Kurosawa/Mifune" Any cinema fan will note the opening wedding scene in The Bad Sleep Well, and its influence on American film makers. Kurosawa carefully sets up the tensions that will explode in (off-screen) violence near the film's conclusion. Here's why you should run out and buy this dvd: Mifune is great, the story riveting, the direction immaculate. The actors from Kurosawa's stock cast turn in wonderful performances, and the story has relevance today as much as when the film was made. When Mifune whistles, I get chills. Don't miss this!