The Bad Sleep Well (1960, Akira Kurosawa) (Patreon)

66/100

Took me a ridiculously long time to realize that this is basically Hamlet, maybe because Gertrude is a company here rather than a person. (Goes Business indeed.) Mifune's avenging son isn't remotely conflicted, though, except perhaps insofar as he feels a little guilt about having originally married under false pretenses; inexorability is the prevailing mood, even if the (rather abrupt) ending cynically upends that. This'll probably sound bizarre, but The Bad Sleep Well actually plays to me more like a defeatist version of De Palma's The Untouchables, had Eliot Ness gone undercover in Capone's organization rather than created a somewhat extra-legal task force. Nishi could just as credibly say "I have become what I beheld and I am content that I have done right"; while he sorrowfully observes that it's impossible to combat corruption without sullying oneself in the process, he never once wavers. That doesn't provide Mifune with an opportunity to astonish, and I'd rank this toward the bottom of his work for Kurosawa, though that's like citing Max Cady as one of De Niro's least memorable Scorsese performances—accurate, but only by comparison to umpteen marvels. His coiled intensity is still something to behold, especially in contrast to the easy rapport that Nishi shares with "Itakura," aka Actual Nishi, his lifelong friend. You get a sense of the ordinary life that both men have willingly relinquished in order to see justice served, and the complete lack of regret or rancor with which they discuss eventually going to prison might be the film's most interesting dynamic. Wish Itakura had been introduced earlier.

As is, and despite its evocative title, The Bad Sleep Well does feel quite plot-heavy, especially early on when we're being fed reams of exposition by a Greek chorus of reporters (with Nishi as yet completely undefined in the background). I'll be a spoilsport and observe that one key aspect of the narrative makes very little sense: Unless I missed something, there's no reason why the Public Corp. baddies should feel confident that Wada is actually dead  (and hence that Shirai is delusional). In fact it's not even clear to me how anyone would have known about his alleged suicide, since there was no body to be recovered. Who reported it? Nishi? He wasn't supposed to be there. Did Wada leave a note, and are we to understand that everyone accepts said note at face value even after Shirai claims on multiple occasions that he saw the man? That whole aspect kinda gets half-assed, honestly, which wouldn't be a huge deal (and it's still by no means a dealbreaker) except that there's not a whole lot going on psychologically to commandeer one's attention. Nor does Kurosawa attempt the sort of formal audacity that makes High and Low a masterpiece even with the volume switched off—this film looks good (and I'm a sucker for anamorphic b&w), but few shots or compositions leapt out as exceptional to my eye. "Absorbing" is the adjective I'd settle on. My own sleep last night was untroubled, and this is a director whose greatest work always leaves me shaken.