The Bad Sleep Well in the New Japan

The Bad Sleep Well is one of Kurosawa’s most overlooked films, yet it stands out for its psychological depth and as a visual testament to Japan’s post-World War II economic recovery. Shifting his focus from yakuza and petty criminals, Kurosawa delves into the moral depravity of Japan’s elite, attempting to investigate their abuse of power.

The film opens at the large wedding reception for Koichi Nishi and Yoshiko Iwabuchi, whose father is the Vice President of a government housing company and Nishi’s boss. As the reception begins, a small army of reporters crashes the party, just in time to see a company executive, Wada, get arrested on bribery charges. Despite the wedding party’s best efforts, the event suggests the company is embroiled in a corruption scandal.

Just as the police have the executives cornered, a series of suicides grinds the investigation to a halt. One exec, Wada, is saved from throwing himself into an active volcano by Nishi, who is revealed to be the illegitimate son of a company exec who jumped to his death to protect Iwabuchi from a similar scandal five years ago.

With a bit of help from Wada and his best friend Itakura, Nishi tries to reveal the company’s crimes. Eventually, Iwabuchi discovers his identity and tricks his daughter into revealing her husband’s whereabouts. As Yoshiko realizes what she’s done, she and her brother go to Nishi’s hideout and learn that her husband has been murdered by her father’s goons. Yoshiko goes insane, while Iwabuchi is asked by his mysterious superiors to go abroad.

A Film of “Social Significance”

After over a decade of straight forward dramas and action-packed samurai films, what got Kurosawa interested in film noir again? First, by 1960 he was a consistent hit-maker and at a point in his career where he could make any project he wanted. Second, he wanted to expose the hidden rot among those in the highest positions of power. Kurosawa said:

“There was so much corruption [at the executive level of Japanese industry] at the time… What would happen if somebody investigated the corruption and followed it through to the end? ‘Let’s make a thorough story about that,’ I thought. That’s how we started.”

Kurosawa’s return to film noir makes sense given the script’s elements — crime, morally ambiguous heroes, and intricate plots — and his prior success with noir films like Drunken Angel and Stray Dog.

The Economic Miracle

As discussed in my articles on Stray Dog and Drunken Angel, the late 40s in Japan were harsh — most of the major cities were destroyed, the economy was in shambles, hundreds of thousands of people were dead, millions were homeless, and there wasn’t enough food to go around. But by the end of the American Occupation, the economy began to turn around.

By 1952, the Japanese economy was beginning to surpass its pre-war output. Between 1955 and 1960, the economy grew by a whopping 10% each year, well on its way to becoming the world’s second largest economy, behind only the U.S. By 1960, the year The Bad Sleep Well was released, the country had transformed itself into a global economic power.

With this new found wealth came a rising standard of living: major cities boasted department stores, shopping centers, movie houses, coffee shops, bars, nightclubs, and restaurants. American culture was more popular than ever — jazz and rock were popular, along with

American fashion, hairstyles, and dating patterns. Nikkatsu, a rival to Kurosawa’s home studio, Toho, made its bread and butter by producing “borderless action films.” Abandoning traditional Japanese imagery in favor of the look and feel of American Westerns and noirs, these flicks catered to youthful audiences interested in a stylish, cool, and Americanized version of Japan rather than the real thing.

These societal changes are up front and center in The Bad Sleep Well. Shots of the city show modern buildings and cars. Jazz music plays in the background. Nishi used to be a foreign car salesman, indicating a larger market for such luxuries and the continued appeal of American products. The film’s backdrop of Japan’s economic boom underscores the contrast between the visible prosperity and the underlying corruption.

Another significant change is crime. The black markets are gone, and the yakuza have been relegated to the shadows. The real criminals sit at the top of society, hiding behind well-pressed suits, fancy dinner parties, expensive cars, and, most of all, politeness. If they need someone gone, there is no need to soil their own hands — with a little social pressure their inferiors will do themselves in. If that fails, they can pay someone to finish the job.

Hamlet Meets Film Noir

Though it’s not a direct adaptation, the similarities too Hamlet are obvious: getting revenge on daddy’s killers, seeing ghosts, people going crazy, murders committed in a blood thirsty quest for power. Just as Hamlet stages a play to reveal Claudius’ crimes, Nishi sets up the elaborate wedding banquet to reveal the company’s corruption. The reporters and guests act as the audience, and instead of reenacting his father’s death, he alludes to it with a cake in the shape of the office building where he met his end. The most obvious similarity between Nishi and Prince Hamlet is their shared psychological struggle to avenge their fathers.

Kurosawa’s portrait of an individual thrown into social action is riveting, and no matter what Nishi does, you can’t help but root for him. It’s fascinating to see the lengths he’ll go to exact revenge: threatening, kidnapping, blackmailing, and driving his enemies crazy. How he loves his wife but can’t bear to connect with her, knowing he’s out to destroy her father. How he’s torn between his obsession for revenge and fear of losing his soul in the process.

What Doesn’t Work

Did Kurosawa succeed in creating a film of “social significance?” Although it correctly identifies the tendency of unscrupulous individuals to exploit systems, it falls short of delving into the systemic causes of corruption. Iwabuchi and his associates could not have maintained their positions and secured bribes without a system designed to protect them. The film’s focus on blind loyalty, though significant, does not fully address the broader issues contributing to corporate misconduct in Japan.

Then there’s the ending. When Yoshiko and her brother arrive at the hideout, Takakura reveals that her husband was murdered off-screen. Apparently, Iwabuchi’s henchmen abducted Nishi, injected him with grain alcohol, put him in his car, and parked it on train tracks. They also likely killed Wada and Moriyama, who knew too much. Perhaps the intention was to showcase the impersonal nature of corporate corruption, yet omitting these events creates an anticlimactic solution to a movie that seemed meticulously building up to a dramatic confrontation. It also weakens one of the film’s core themes — no single individual can rise above this cruel world. By not seeing Nishi’s death -or his body- we don’t feel the weight of his loss — he simply disappears.

A Failure More Interesting than Many Successes

Despite these shortcomings, Donald Richie sums the film up best: “As a movie of some social significance,” it is a failure. This failure, however, is much more interesting than many successes.”

Though not a film of “social significance,” it highlights how those most willing to commit evil often succeed. Iwabuchi uses bribery, blackmail, and murder to climb the corporate ladder, while Nishi is just. Despite having numerous chances to kill Iwabuchi and his associates — Nishi strives to publicly expose their crimes and seek justice instead. He aims to avenge his father without losing his soul, but in a world rife with corporate greed, his idealism lands him in the grave. Iwabuchi’s lack of scruples allows him to ruthlessly eliminate any adversary.

While The Bad Sleep Well may not fully achieve its goal of social significance, it remains a compelling exploration of a changing Japan and the search for justice in a world built for evil. Its flaws don’t detract from its impact, making it a notable entry in Kurosawa’s filmography.

My next article will focus on Kurosawa’s next picture, High and Low, which is not only riveting from start to finish, but proves to be a film of some “social significance;” investigating the class conflict lurking underneath Japan’s Economic Miracle.