The Criterion Collection

[MifuneFan]

Watched my DVD of The Bad Sleep Well (1960) yesterday. Kurosawa is best known for his samurai epics, but he was just as masterful with modern day dramas, and thrillers. Films like High and Low, The Bad Sleep Well, and Stray Dog are all example examples of Kurosawa's ability to mold westernized themes of crime and corruption into a Japanese landscape.

The Bad Sleep Well is by and large a social commentary on Japan's post-war bureaucratic machine. It shows the extent some higher-ups will go to obtain power, and wealth, and also what those under them are willing to sacrifice in order to protect them. When watching the film, I couldn't help thinking of these bureaucratic corporations as cults. A lowly employee says later in the film that it's impossible go against a superior, they'll always win. That undying loyalty, and subservient mentality is just completely ingrained into him, like so many of Japan's salarymen today.

It had been several years since I last watched the film; just long enough for me to remember the film for its spectacle of a wedding opening, its whimsical score, and the entertaining mind-games that the main character Nishi (Toshiro Mifune) plays with his targets. I had completely forgotten just how dark the movie can get, reminding me of its origins in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The film also has arguably one of the most ruthless "villains" of any Kurosawa film.

Thinking about the plot, this could easily have been written as a taught political/psychological thriller, but Kurosawa gives it a lighter, more playful tone for much of the film. Anyway, I didn't mean to write this much, but I really enjoyed revisiting the film. It's long overdue for an upgrade of course, so we just have to hope Criterion gets around to that sooner than later.

[Professor Echo]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

My all time favorite Kurosawa film. Yep. I think it's a masterpiece in every way.

Nice review. MF.

[koberulz]

With the Othello commentary being on the US/UK cut and everyone preferring the European so far...watching the Euro cut for the film and then the commentary after seems like a decent approach?

[fdm]

Originally Posted by regeyer

Imagine if Criterion starts to release 4K movies, but they're only available on the Criterion Channel.

Imagine if Criterion Channel started using dolby digital for its soundtracks to provide legitimate surround sound. Nah, too 21st century.

[BluLobsta]

Originally Posted by mmarczi

Thanks. I have briefly looked into some Japanese options, maybe I'll take a second look some day. I have purchased (even double-dipped for original audio) on BFI's Ozu titles? Including Equinox Flower and Early Summer, which are still stuck on DVD with Criterion. But I'd likely buy them yet again if Criterion puts them out with solid extras.

My next purchase from Amazon Japan will be Early Summer. It's a must to round out the Noriko trilogy with 4K remasters. I didn't know Setsuko Hara was also in the Kurosawa film No Regrets for Our Youth. Interesting.

[HenryHill]

Originally Posted by fdm

Imagine if Criterion Channel started using dolby digital for its soundtracks to provide legitimate surround sound. Nah, too 21st century.

Imagine if Criterion Channel dropped their DRM so one could actually watch them. Movies were not meant to be viewed on an iPhone.

[peschi]

Originally Posted by HenryHill

Imagine if Criterion Channel dropped their DRM so one could actually watch them. Movies were not meant to be viewed on an iPhone.

there is a thing called Apple tv

[Vigojean]

Originally Posted by MifuneFan

(also, it's not that great a movie)

If the idiot Armond White is smart enough to call A.I. one of the top ten greatest films of all time, I’m sure you can make a leap and see that it’s a masterpiece. It’s even ranked high on They Shoot Pictures list of the greatest films of the 21st century. Yes, Kubrick would’ve done a way better job, but Spielberg made his best movie with that one, and I don’t even like him. It’s the most relevant movie of the century.

[Vigojean]

Originally Posted by StarDestroyer52

Besides the First National shorts, what else is there for them to release that is Chaplin? Now, I would be in for a First National set

That’s exactly what they need to release. The Pilgrim is a masterpiece

[HenryHill]

Originally Posted by peschi

there is a thing called Apple tv

And I can watch that on a large computer screen without getting error messages, unlike CC. Ted Lasso and Schmigadoon are excellent.

CC has horrible customer service

[mmarczi]

Originally Posted by BluLobsta

My next purchase from Amazon Japan will be Early Summer. It's a must to round out the Noriko trilogy with 4K remasters. I didn't know Setsuko Hara was also in the Kurosawa film No Regrets for Our Youth. Interesting.

I enjoyed No Regrets for Our Youth quite a bit. It's kind of interesting in that in different ways, it's both characteristic and uncharacteristic of Kurosawa's earlier work. I don't think he ever quite made another film like that. Almost more akin to a Kinoshita movie to me.

[mmarczi]

Originally Posted by HenryHill

CC has horrible customer service

CC has had excellent customer service in my experience, but of course it depends on what you're asking about.

[tatterdemalion]

Originally Posted by wobelix

That would be a great movie!

In my mind there is something like 'The Congress', which would point towards 'The Futurological Congress'...
Blast! The memory enjoying its holes, where I am not...

Or maybe Return From the Stars which would have fitted Tarkovsky's idea of filming Solaris without the characters ever leaving Earth.

And I'm over 50 so I have those memory holes.

[BluLobsta]

Originally Posted by mmarczi

I enjoyed No Regrets for Our Youth quite a bit. It's kind of interesting in that in different ways, it's both characteristic and uncharacteristic of Kurosawa's earlier work. I don't think he ever quite made another film like that. Almost more akin to a Kinoshita movie to me.

Added it to my list on Criterion Channel! Kurosawa's first post-war film. Be interesting to see his interpretation.

[HenryHill]

Originally Posted by mmarczi

CC has had excellent customer service in my experience, but of course it depends on what you're asking about.

They are the only streaming service that I have had problems with, and they never answered any of my inquiries about the problems I had trying to watch their content. Criterion absolutely does not care about their customers.

I can watch Apple+, Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime online, but not Criterion Channel. I was a charter subscriber when they rebooted after Filmstruck died, but I got tired of giving them money for no service.

[MifuneFan]

Criterion is known has some of the best customer servicce of any company. I don't think the same people that handle the customer service for their physical collection handles their streaming service side though.

[hoytereden]

Originally Posted by BluLobsta

My next purchase from Amazon Japan will be Early Summer. It's a must to round out the Noriko trilogy with 4K remasters. I didn't know Setsuko Hara was also in the Kurosawa film No Regrets for Our Youth. Interesting.

August 19th is Setsuko Hara day on TCM’s Summer Under The Stars. There’s a few titles they’re showing I’ve never seen so that’ll be a treat for me.

[mmarczi]

Originally Posted by HenryHill

They are the only streaming service that I have had problems with, and they never answered any of my inquiries about the problems I had trying to watch their content. Criterion absolutely does not care about their customers.

I can watch Apple+, Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime online, but not Criterion Channel. I was a charter subscriber when they rebooted after Filmstruck died, but I got tired of giving them money for no service.

Do you have FireTV? That's what I've always used to stream the Criterion Channel on my tv and I've never had any source-based issues with it. What are you trying to use to stream it that isn't working?

[HenryHill]

Originally Posted by mmarczi

Do you have FireTV? That's what I've always used to stream the Criterion Channel on my tv and I've never had any source-based issues with it. What are you trying to use to stream it that isn't working?

Just my Verizon FIOS. It works with every streaming service except for Criterion Channel.

[RCRochester]

Originally Posted by HenryHill

And I can watch that on a large computer screen without getting error messages, unlike CC. Ted Lasso and Schmigadoon are excellent.

CC has horrible customer service

I don't think he was talking about the Apple TV app, he was talking about an actual physical Apple TV. You can airplay the movie from your phone to the Apple TV and watch on your TV.

Or as someone else mentioned, you can get a Firestick. We have that on our living room TV and it plays movies from the Criterion Channel with no issues whatsoever.