I liked this movie a lot but was a little disappointed by the ending. Spoilers coming...I appreciate the choice of not showing Nishi's death, but feel just a bit cheated out of a climax. I'll admit part of me thought there was a chance his father-in-law was going to have a change of heart for some reason so I suppose that made for a powerful reveal when it gets to the press conference that yes, that is what happened, the real Nishi wasn't lying.

Question about the very end...the father-in-law being told to take a vacation, was that telling us that he was probably next on the list to be wiped out by his superiors? Also, he says that he didn't sleep at all the night before. But "the bad sleep well," so is it saying he's good? Or is the title of the film sarcastic, and the bad don't sleep well? I'm focusing on the title and that line because before "The End" it shows the title of the film again. That doesn't happen in every Kurosawa film I don't think. I had just watched The Hidden Fortress and that went straight to The End. Am I reading too much into this? Or am I missing something super obvious?

We start with the sight of a group of journalists at a wedding. The daughter of an industrialist is marrying the son of another. Nothing new here until, that is, an extra wedding cake is wheeled into the reception shaped just like an office block. Sticking out of a seventh floor window is a rose. We are quickly told that symbolises the window from which the groom's father committed suicide. Shortly afterwards, two senior executives are arrested after a ¥12 billion deal is suspected of being a bit fishy. Neither executive will talk to the prosecutors so one is released and the other released and re-arrested. The latter man takes the hint and falls foul of a passing lorry! Could the events of years ago be coming back to haunt those responsible? It certainly has shades of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" to it, but this isn't one of my favourite Kurosawa films. Despite being almost 2¼ hours long I felt the characterisations rather under-developed. The always reliable Toshirô Mifune is the groom ("Nishi") and for a while there is a strong dynamic between him and the star of the film, for me anyway, Kô Nishimura ("Shirai). This latter man is complicit in the double dealings and is quite literally scared into helping "Nishi" expose the culprits and activities that caused his misery. The rest of the acting here is not up to the usual standard, though. There is a great deal of dialogue and in this case that slows the pace down and creates a sense of almost the ennui around the middle third of the film - just as the plot ought to be thickening. The denouement is also rather underwhelming - though, I suppose entirely plausible and totally consistent with the ethos of the title (and the source play), but I still left this screening just a bit disappointed.