BAD SLEEP WELL - DVD review

If "Yojimbo" (1961) constructed Toshiro Mifune as Superman (gene-spliced with Wolverine), then "The Bad Sleep Well" (1960) provides us Mifune as Clark Kent. Mifune dons a business suit and thick glasses to play Koichi Nishi, a mild-mannered young accountant who marries Yoshiko (Kyoko Kagawa) who just happens to be the daughter of Iwabuchi (Masayuki Mori) who just happens to be the president of the gigantic construction firm Public Corporation. A group of cynical reporters covering the wedding assume that Nishi marries the boss' daughter to advance his career. He does have ulterior motives for marrying Yoshiko but his plans have nothing to do with climbing the corporate ladder. You see, Nishi isn't really Nishi at all, but rather the son of a former Public employee who was driven to suicide by the corrupt Iwabuchi, and now the son seeks vengeance on behalf of the father.

Kurosawa draws liberally from the pulp fiction tradition, creating a revenge story replete with secret identities, betrayals, faked deaths, hired killers and plot twists galore. Nishi carries out his plan methodically, playing the dutiful son-in-law and company man, all the while working from the inside-out to expose the corruption of Iwabuchi and Public Corporation. Kurosawa likens the Japanese corporate world to that of the yakuza where bosses can order subordinates to cheat, lie and even kill themselves to defend the company honor. The gangster analogy isn't so far-fetched when you consider that by the late 1990s thousands of Japanese companies coordinated their annual meetings to be held on the same day to make it more difficult for yakuza agents to disrupt them.

Nishi first targets middle management toady Shirai, played by Kurosawa stalwart Akira Nishimura in a histrionic tour-de-force. Tempted to kill him, Nishi settles for gaslighting poor Shirai into a gibbering puddle of insanity. Then Nishi the hunter sets his sights on bigger game with a special place reserved above his mantle for the head of his new father-in-law.

Just when "The Bad Sleep Well" seems to be traveling the same road paved by all the revenge fantasies before it, Kurosawa and his writers (five writers, including Kurosawa, worked on different parts of the screenplay) veer off on a major detour. Nishi spent years planning his revenge, but finds the execution far more challenging than the theory. An erstwhile avenger needs a fanatical, unquestioning devotion to his cause, but Nishi begins to have second thoughts. Though his father-in-law is undeniably a corrupt bastard, Nishi has been welcomed into the Iwabuchi family and there are other people to consider, chiefly the naïve Yoshiko who trusts both Nishi and her father completely. Despite his meticulous planning, Nishi has fallen in love with his wife and doesn't want to hurt her by exposing her father's crimes. What to do next?

In a pivotal scene, Nishi wonders aloud, "Maybe I just don't hate them enough." This proves to be his downfall. Clark Kent is ill-suited to be a Dark Knight; he simply isn't as selfish as Bruce Wayne who cuts himself off from the real world so he can indulge his adolescent revenge fantasies. Superman might be an overgrown boy scout, but Bruce Wayne's maturation process froze the night his parents were gunned down. Perhaps the same would be true of Nishi if his father had died when he was younger, but Nishi had time to grow up and become a man before launching his revenge. He sees the ramifications his actions have and hesitates; it is this hesitation that sends the final act of this film spiraling off into an unexpected direction.

"The Bad Sleep Well" borrows not only from pulp fiction but from the Bard as well, "Hamlet" in this case. However, the adaptation is a loose one, and "The Bad Sleep Well" shouldn't be lumped in with Kurosawa's more faithful Shakespeare adaptations "Throne of Blood" (1957) and "Ran" (1986). The basic plot of a son working mole-like from within to prove that his father's death was no accident is the most obvious reference, but Nishi is not precisely a stand-in for the melancholy Dane. All occasions inform against poor Nishi and spur his dull revenge, but he doesn't even achieve Hamlet's Pyrrhic victory.

You might find it odd to see Mifune play such a cool, reserved character, but only if you've never seen his brilliant performance in "High and Low" (1962). Mifune is an extraordinary physical actor, but here he gets to show just how multi-faceted he is. He emerges gradually in the film from background player to main protagonist and he shifts from cold, steely-eyed corporate warrior to compassionate, loving husband with the illusory ease that only a gifted actor can achieve.

While the film offers a fresh and complex take on the standard revenge yarn, the final act still feels bloated and unfocused. Kurosawa makes many bold choices, including the off-screen staging of the film's climactic moment, but they don't all work, and the brilliance of the film's first half is diluted somewhat by its finale. Most of Kurosawa's longer films are perfectly paced, but this noir would run leaner and fitter at something less than its two and a half hour running time.

VIDEO

The film is presented in its original 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio. This restored digital transfer is crisp and really showcases the high-contrast black and white photography by Yuzura Aizawa. Kurosawa and Aizawa take advantage of every inch of the widescreen image to create a visual experience that needs to be seen multiple times to be fully appreciated.

AUDIO

The DVD is presented in Dolby Digital Mono. The eclectic score by Masaru Sato is mixed well in this restored audio transfer.

EXTRAS

This is a stripped-down offering from Criterion. Aside from the trailer and the insert booklet, the only special feature is "Akira Kurosawa: It is Wonderful to Create" (33 min.) Another episode of this Toho Masterworks television series was included on Criterion's release of "Ran" last year. This episode deals, appropriately enough, with "The Bad Sleep Well" but offers little in the way of insight unless you are surprised to learn that Kurosawa "believed in cinema and its power."

CLOSING THOUGHTS

If you're looking for the simple purity of "Kill Bill" you won't find it here. Perhaps the darkest and most pessimistic of Kurosawa's earlier films, "The Bad Sleep Well" is the rare revenge flick that holds its hero responsible for his actions and places him within the context of the society he tries so hard to deny he is part of. "The Bad Sleep Well" is not one of Kurosawa's greatest achievements, but it is still a fine example of his mid-period work.