The Bad Sleep Well

A film by Akira Kurosawa

Often overlooked, Kurosawa's first independent co-production, The Bad Sleep Well, is a scathing indictment on the morality of Japan's post-occupation economic miracle. Toshiro Mifune stars as Nishi, a salaryman who marries his boss' lame daughter with the aim of exacting revenge on his father-in-law for his own father's death at the hands of the company. A suit-and-tie film noir, Kurosawa aims directly at the black heart of capitalism and the dark conformism of corporate Japan.