The Bad Sleep Well (Kurosawa, 1950): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 6pm
This 35mm presentation (also screening on January 29th) is part of the Akira Kurosawa season. You can find the full details of the Kurosawa programme here.
Time Out review:
Akira Kurosawa's first venture for his own short-lived production company, a revenge tragedy (employee of big housing corporation marries the boss' daughter while simultaneously seeking the truth of his father's 'suicide') which attempts to indict the corruptions that go hand-in-hand with big business, ultimately hinting that even the government cannot be said to have clean hands. Freed from immediate box-office pressures, Kurosawa rather loaded the film on the side of social significance, while neglecting to capitalise on the noir aspects that underlie it. Even so, his use of the 'scope screen is masterly, suggesting right from the opening sequence - a wedding at which the cake is a replica of the company offices, and the crippled bride has obviously had a groom bought from among daddy's employees - a boardroom table across which manipulations gradually unfold.
Tom Milne
Akira Kurosawa's first venture for his own short-lived production company, a revenge tragedy (employee of big housing corporation marries the boss' daughter while simultaneously seeking the truth of his father's 'suicide') which attempts to indict the corruptions that go hand-in-hand with big business, ultimately hinting that even the government cannot be said to have clean hands. Freed from immediate box-office pressures, Kurosawa rather loaded the film on the side of social significance, while neglecting to capitalise on the noir aspects that underlie it. Even so, his use of the 'scope screen is masterly, suggesting right from the opening sequence - a wedding at which the cake is a replica of the company offices, and the crippled bride has obviously had a groom bought from among daddy's employees - a boardroom table across which manipulations gradually unfold.
Tom Milne
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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