Misteraser Critics,are you kidding us

SpunkySelfTwitter It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

mjoyceh This film is about white collar corruption from a Japanese perspective. It is fascinating to watch. The only thing that stops me from giving this film a 10 rating is that some of the acting is terrible, and is a distraction from the rest of the film. (I do not include Mifune in this category. His performance is terrific.)

tomgillespie2002 Akira Kurosawa's lambasting of Japan's post-war corporate culture, The Bad Sleep Well, is one of many collaborations with actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura and one of several of his film's rooted in the work of William Shakespeare. It's been somewhat unfairly overshadowed by the brilliance of those other films, but given the near-perfection of those movies, many of which regularly make those awful, generic 'top 100 movies' lists created by various magazines and websites, it's hardly surprising. But The Bad Sleep Well is one of Kurosawa's most ingeniously paced, clinically filmed and potently pessimistic movies.Beginning with one of the most exceptional opening sequences in cinema, a crowd of journalists gather at the wedding reception of Nishi (Mifune) and Yoshiko (Kyoko Kagawa) attended by a host of corporate high-flyers. Yoshiko is the daughter of Corporation Vice President Iwabuchi (Masyuki Mori), whose company is facing scrutiny over suspected bid rigging and corruption. The press have gathered to witness the awkward toasts given by the various sweaty workers, delivered on a podium reminiscent of a witness stand. As the speeches are given, the wedding cake is wheeled in and revealed to be in the form of the corporate office building, with a single red rose protruding from the window in which Assistant Chief Furaya committed suicide from years earlier.As a couple of higher-ups are arrested, Nishi steps in to reveal his plan of revenge. He has donned the disguise of a eager hopeful looking to marry himself up the corporate ladder, but is actually Furaya's son and has uncovered the trail of greed and corruption that led to his forced suicide. And all roads lead to Iwabuchi. Loosely based on Hamlet, The Bad Sleep Well is less faithful to the source material than Kurosawa's other Shakespeare adaptations. Working for the first time with his own production company, Kurosawa instead took the chance to voice his disgust at Japan's post-war capitalist takeover, where underlings are expected to take their own lives to save their boss's skin and back-hand dealings are less suspected than expected.The title suggest something noir-ish, a genre Kurosawa is not unfamiliar with. But this has only brief shades of noir, and the title only serves as a warning of the grim pessimism smeared on thick throughout. At over two hours, the film is perhaps too long, becoming muddled at the points in which it should be tight and thrilling. But this is certainly a display of the director's formidable talent. The aforementioned opening wedding section is an expert mixture of comedy, tense drama and mystery, and was almost certainly paid homage to in The Godfather (1972). Mifune too, delivers a powerhouse performance as Nishi, stepping out of the shadows to become the beast he seeks to destroy. The climax may be too overtly bleak for some, but for the most part this is beautifully filmed, riveting stuff.www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

pcernea-1 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!

Lawson I enjoyed Akira Kurosawa's medieval adaptations of Shakespeare (Ran, Throne of Blood), as well as his contemporary thriller, High and Low, but I have to say this contemporary thriller adaptation of Hamlet is the weakest of the bunch.Not to say it's bad - it was still a great watch, just that it was way too long at 151 minutes. It's pretty amazing how Kurosawa made such a contemporary movie back in 1960 that it still feels fresh today. His direction is mostly tight and suspenseful and the movie is further augmented by an effective score and good acting all around, especially by Kurosawa stalwart, Toshiro Mifune.But overly long it is, and less interesting scenes had my attention wandering. Maybe I should blame Shakespeare instead. Gawd knows I already find him long-winded and boring.