Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru

English title: The Bad Sleep Well

Genre: corporate and psychological drama (in black and white) 

With: Toshirô Mifune (Kôichi Nishi), Masayuki Mori (Iwabuchi, VP of Public Corporation), Kyôko Kagawa (Yoshiko, Iwabuchi’s daughter), Tatsuya Mihashi (Tatsuo, Iwabuchi’s son), Takashi Shimura (Moriyama, Administrative Officer), Kô Nishimura (Shirai, Chief of contracts), Takeshi Katô (Itakura), Kamatari Fujiwara (Wada, Assistant Chief of contracts), Ken Mitsuda (Arimura, President of Public Corporation), Someshô Matsumoto (Hatano, President of Dairyu Construction)

Director: Akira Kurosawa

Screenplay: Hideo Oguni, Eijirô Hisaita, Ryûzô Kikushima, Shinobu Hashimoto and Akira Kurosawa

Release: 1960

Studio: Toho Co., Ltd., Kurosawa Productions

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.7/10 

 

If You Find One Cockroach, There’s Bound to Be More 

  

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Story-line: what was supposed to be a happy day at the Public Corporation for Land Development – the wedding between Yoshiko, the Vice President’s daughter, and Nishi, an up-and-coming executive – is marred by regrettable events. (1) Scandal-seeking journalists are on hand, looking for clues of corruption between PCLD and a construction firm, (2) one of its senior managers, Wada, is arrested by the police, (3) the bride’s brother makes an off-key speech at the banquet and (4) an anonymous prankster sends a second wedding cake that could be seen as a warning to the corporate brass. As Shakespeare would say, ‟Something’s rotten in the state of Japan”.

Pluses: remarkable acting by Toshirô Mifune, Masayuki Mori and a very adept cast, flawless direction by a world-renowned helmer, a brilliant and devilish screenplay, excellent cinematography, fine production values, a varied musical score attentive to every circumstance and a potent finale.

Minuses: this movie is rather long (at 150 minutes) and doesn’t reveal its big secret until the 80-minute mark… but what a captivating watch it is from beginning to end!

Comments: having seen a few period dramas by Akira Kurosawa, I was astounded by THE BAD SLEEP WELL, a modern film noir inspired by the American movies he loved so much. And this picture is so intense, evil and tragic that some reviewers have compared it to HAMLET. It’s the kind of story in which every character ends up damaged in some way, either by the excesses of corporate culture, the injustices of life or a love that goes awry. This one’s very close to perfection!

  

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Unagi

English title: The Eel

Genre: psychological drama

With: Kôji Yakusho (Takuro Yamashita), Misa Shimizu (Keiko Hattori, the suicidal girl),  Fujio Tokita (Jiro Nakajima, the parole officer), Mitsuko Baishô (Misako Nakajima, the parole officer’s wife), Show Aikawa (Yuji Nozawa), Ken Kobayashi (Masaki Saito, the neighbourhood nuisance), Sabu Kawahara (Seitaro Misato), Akira Emoto (Tamotsu Takasaki, a former convict), Tomorô Taguchi (Eiji Dojima, Keiko’s ex-boyfriend)

Director: Shôhei Imamura

Screenplay: Shôhei Imamura, Daisuke Tengan and Motofumi Tomikawa (based on Akira Yoshimura’s novel)

Release: 1997

Studio: Eisei Gekijo, Groove Corporation, Imamura Productions et al.

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.4/10 

 

‟He listens to what I say. He doesn’t say what I don’t want to hear.” 

 

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Story-line: in the summer of 1988, Takuro Yamashita, a trader for the Hinode Flour Corporation, makes a huge mistake after discovering his wife’s secret. Eight years later, having paid his debt to society, he endeavours to build a new life for himself in Sawara with the help of his parole officer and the pet eel he adopted while behind bars.

Pluses: fine acting all around, attentive direction, a slightly odd but ever thoughtful screenplay that develops its characters fully and measuredly through astute dialogues and interplay, appropriate production values, beautiful cinematography, a sweet musical score and a very charming ending.

Minuses: long ago, when I first heard about this movie, I thought it depicted some weirdo love affair between a guy and a fish… but nothing is further from the truth! THE EEL is a straightforward drama about redemption and doing the right thing. As for the eel itself, the more you look at it, the more you’ll understand Yamashita: that quiet bugger in the aquarium is likeable indeed. On the negative side, the film suffers from a lull after its first act but picks up very nicely halfway through when it sheds new light on the protagonist’s past and personality. 

Comments: as Yamashita finds out what to do with his life, you can feel his wariness and doubts: he wants to start anew and isn’t looking for trouble. His new surroundings, however, will bring back dark memories and muster new threats that he must avert as best he can. Modest, short on flash and long on humanity, THE EEL is a curious and refreshing film that warms your soul with its inherent tenderness. 

 

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L’année dernière à Marienbad

English title: Last Year at Marienbad

Genre: psychological drama (in black and white)

With: Delphine Seyrig (the brunette), Giorgio Albertazzi (her pursuer), Sacha Pitoëff (the other man), Françoise Bertin (a hotel guest), Luce Garcia-Ville (another hotel guest)

Director: Alain Resnais

Screenplay: Alain Robbe-Grillet

Release: 1961

Studio: Cocinor, Terra Film, Cormoran Films et al.

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.8/10 

 

I Sure Hope You’re Right, Fella!

 

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Story-line: a woman staying at a posh European hotel is hounded by a man who claims to have met her somewhere before. Was it in Marienbad? Or is the guy plainly mistaken?

Pluses: self-conscious and stilted acting (at times laughably so), amazing direction that delivers several highlights (notably the opening 13-minute set-up and one intense dance scene at the 70-minute mark), a disjointed, supremely cryptic screenplay that generates little action (except on a psychological level) yet remains astonishing throughout, dialogues both literary and impressionistic, aesthetically-minded cinematography, sumptuous production values and an oddly used, expansive and omnipresent musical score featuring romantic strings but mostly a thunderous, quasi-apocalyptic organ.

Minuses: this dry and meditative movie is definitely not for everyone. Viewers will need perseverance (or tight buttocks) during the last act. Generally speaking, if you choose to watch this film, put aside everything you know about cinema.

Comments: yes… my review sounds like an oxymoron at times but it truly reflects what L’ANNÉE DERNIÈRE À MARIENBAD is all about. Alain Resnais’s work is so different, hermetic and daring that it can only be described as an anti-movie, in a vein similar to HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR and Marguerite Duras’s INDIA SONG. It basically involves three characters – the woman, the pursuer and the woman’s husband – while extras stand around like wallflowers or wander about aimlessly. This abstract, arty and strangely mesmerizing oeuvre has garnered nominations at several festivals – winning the Golden Lion in Venice – and is universally considered a masterpiece. So, will the guy finally get the girl? I won’t tell… it’s the whole payoff! 

 

MBiS 

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