The Bad Sleep Well

1960 2h 30m JA

🙌

7.7

BANGER

★7.7TMDB · 301

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Synopsis

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In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi's father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father's death.

“Some stories are better left unspoiled.”

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Cast

Toshirō Mifune
Kôichi Nishi
Masayuki Mori
Public Corporation Vice President Iwabuchi
Kamatari Fujiwara
Assistant-to-the-Chief Wada
Takeshi Katō
Itakura
Kyōko Kagawa
Yoshiko Nishi
Tatsuya Mihashi
Tatsuo Iwabuchi
Takashi Shimura
Administrative Officer Moriyama
Kō Nishimura
Contract Officer Shirai

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Akira Kurosawa
Writers: Hideo Oguni, Eijiro Hisaita, Akira Kurosawa
Languages: Japanese
Countries: Japan

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 150 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 63% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

ERA

Did you know

66 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Akira Kurosawa, shot by Yuzuru Aizawa. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Masaru Satō. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Akira Kurosawa shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Toshirō Mifune and Masayuki Mori and Kamatari Fujiwara carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Akira Kurosawa directs. Yuzuru Aizawa behind the camera. Masaru Satō scores. Akira Kurosawa cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in Japan. Dialogue in Japanese.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 150 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2Shot for just $0.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
3Earned back only 63% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
466 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
5Directed by Akira Kurosawa, shot by Yuzuru Aizawa. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Masaru Satō. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Akira Kurosawa shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Toshirō Mifune and Masayuki Mori and Kamatari Fujiwara carry the top of the cast.
9IMDB entry: tt0054460 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 13 themes, including "corruption", "parent child relationship", "film noir", "wedding".
11Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Yuzuru Aizawa
Original score: Masaru Satō
Editing: Akira Kurosawa
Production design: Yoshirō Muraki
Costume design: Shoji Kurihara
Runtime: 150 min · 2h 30m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $229,000
Box office: $144,000
Return: 63% of budget
Original language: JA
IMDB: The Bad Sleep Well (1960)

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Akira Kurosawa

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What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-11-17
★ 7/10
We start with the sight of a group of journalists at a wedding. The daughter of an industrialist is marrying the son of another. Nothing new here until, that is, an extra wedding cake is wheeled into the reception shaped just like an office block. Sticking out of a seventh floor window is a rose. We are quickly told that symbolises the window from which the groom's father committed suicide. Shortly afterwards, two senior executives are arrested after a ¥12 billion deal is suspected of being a bit fishy. Neither executive will talk to the prosecutors so one is released and the other released and re-arrested. The latter man takes the hint and falls foul of a passing lorry! Could the events of years ago be coming back to haunt those responsible? It certainly has shades of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" to it, but this isn't one of my favourite Kurosawa films. Despite being almost 2¼ hours long I felt the characterisations rather under-developed. The always reliable Toshirô Mifune is the groom ("Nishi") and for a while there is a strong dynamic between him and the star of the film, for me anyway, Kô Nishimura ("Shirai”). This latter man is complicit in the double dealings and is quite literally scared into helping "Nishi" expose the culprits and activities that caused his misery. The rest of the acting here is not up to the usual standard, though. There is a great deal of dialogue and in this case that slows the pace down and creates a sense of borderline ennui around the middle third of the film - just as the plot ought to be thickening. The denouement is also rather underwhelming - though, I suppose entirely plausible and totally consistent with the ethos of the title (and the source play), but I still left this screening just a bit disappointed.

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