One of the world's great directors (Akira Kurosawa ) paired again with one of the world's great actors (Toshiro Mifune) in a noir attack on corporate corruption. Kurosawa is a consummate storyteller, with a genuinely all-seeing eye. I don't know enough about film theory to tell you exactly why it is his films work or are great; I can only compare them to my other experiences watching a wide variety of films, and his are entertaining, morally complex, living things, that fed from, and into, western cinema, bringing a something very Japanese in terms of both storytelling and acting style. He seems to elicit emotional responses, without seeming to try. All the best acrobatic feats have this effect, and this, I think, is one reason why Kurosawa is a great director. Mifune has an intensely charismatic presence: you feel he really gives of himself in every performance. Actors today who remind me of him are Tony Leung ("In the Mood for Love") and Christian Bale. This probably isn't his best showcase, though: check out "The Seven Samurai" and "Yojimbo", among his best.
In "The Bad Sleep Well", Nishi seeks revenge for his father's 'suicide'. Hiding behind thick horn-rimmed glasses and a formal, reserved image, he mercilessly hunts down the 'Corporation' leaders responsible, and no target is too great, or price too high, to pay. Apparently this takes the 'Hamlet' model for its story, but I don't really care about that. Any story, however old and continually retold, can be invigorated by an entirely new, and skillful perspective.
The wedding scene is absolutely extraordinary; the way the tension is slowly ramped up, the vague (and not so vague) feelings of unease, the differing perspectives on it, the silence. In such a charged atmosphere, the smallest detail the bride, who limps and has to wear a specially raised shoe, stumbles, and the groom is notably not the first to rush to assist her takes on significance and high drama. The journalists who crowd the edges of the scene act like a Greek chorus, with their sardonic comments about the proceedings.
The other amazing scene, showing skillful use of sound, is when Nishi forces a worker who was ordered to commit suicide to watch his own funeral, and to listen to a recording of his callous bosses in a nightclub. The louche bossa nova plays swooningly out over scenes of the man's wife and daughter at the ceremony, seen through a car window, bowing repeatedly as a succession of mourners pay tribute. The chanting of the monks can be heard in the background, and at the moment when his bosses are before him, bowing to his family, their heartless voices can be heard on the nightclub recording. The man's desperation at the climax of this scene is very moving. It's masterfully done. All Kurosawa's films, but particularly "High and Low", exhibit his extraordinary use of sound, music and dialogue. The savage, dismal end of the film and the bomb-devastated surroundings seem to reflect strongly the sense of moral dismay, of waste and shame and corruption.
Don't get caught up or put off - by the whole 'great director' thing; likewise, don't let the subtitles or that it's black and white make you glassy-eyed. If you can strip your mind of the need for modern day filmic tics, you'll find this an engrossing and intelligent drama.
In "The Bad Sleep Well", Nishi seeks revenge for his father's 'suicide'. Hiding behind thick horn-rimmed glasses and a formal, reserved image, he mercilessly hunts down the 'Corporation' leaders responsible, and no target is too great, or price too high, to pay. Apparently this takes the 'Hamlet' model for its story, but I don't really care about that. Any story, however old and continually retold, can be invigorated by an entirely new, and skillful perspective.
The wedding scene is absolutely extraordinary; the way the tension is slowly ramped up, the vague (and not so vague) feelings of unease, the differing perspectives on it, the silence. In such a charged atmosphere, the smallest detail the bride, who limps and has to wear a specially raised shoe, stumbles, and the groom is notably not the first to rush to assist her takes on significance and high drama. The journalists who crowd the edges of the scene act like a Greek chorus, with their sardonic comments about the proceedings.
The other amazing scene, showing skillful use of sound, is when Nishi forces a worker who was ordered to commit suicide to watch his own funeral, and to listen to a recording of his callous bosses in a nightclub. The louche bossa nova plays swooningly out over scenes of the man's wife and daughter at the ceremony, seen through a car window, bowing repeatedly as a succession of mourners pay tribute. The chanting of the monks can be heard in the background, and at the moment when his bosses are before him, bowing to his family, their heartless voices can be heard on the nightclub recording. The man's desperation at the climax of this scene is very moving. It's masterfully done. All Kurosawa's films, but particularly "High and Low", exhibit his extraordinary use of sound, music and dialogue. The savage, dismal end of the film and the bomb-devastated surroundings seem to reflect strongly the sense of moral dismay, of waste and shame and corruption.
Don't get caught up or put off - by the whole 'great director' thing; likewise, don't let the subtitles or that it's black and white make you glassy-eyed. If you can strip your mind of the need for modern day filmic tics, you'll find this an engrossing and intelligent drama.