3rd try: "The Bad Sleep Well"

Blogger ate my two previous attempts at talking about this Kurosawa directed bit of old-skool film noir. The first try was a bit of "Posting While Intoxicated", the next was me complaining that I didn't really remember what the heck I wrote the first time.

Now my enthusiasm is pretty much gone, but I figured I'd at least note that I watched it.

It's loooong. 2 1/2 hours. It's "inspired", like many of Kurosawa's films, by Shakespeare -- this time, "Hamlet". But it's set up as a tale of powerful corporate intrigue and corruption. And, unfortunately, it's kind of stiff and formal.

Of course, I think it's supposed to be that way, because the formality of the language and the interactions of high-level corporate bigshots is kind of key to the whole thing. And I'm only just the slightest, tiniest little bit clued in that it's there, but absolutely not at all in tune with it to the point where I can experience it as intended.

And then at the end, after a long and (eventually) involving buildup, it just kind of goes and ends. Just like that. And yeah, the whole language thing comes starkly into play in the last scene, obvious enough even for me.

So overall, it's not going to play as my favorite Kurosawa work, for sure. But like I said, it eventually did get rather involving, and there's plenty to be learned from it overall, I'm sure. And I can't very well have a Kurosawa collection without it now, can I?