THE BAD SLEEP WELL (1960)

It's a story as old as humanity itself: those with more (in this case, power and money) totally fucking over those with less.

News of an impending police investigation into corruption between two large corporations is just starting to become public, so the executives decide to do the right thing, admit their guilt and pay the price for their wrongdoings...hahahahahahahaha!!!!  You must be a poor person if you believed that!  No, the executives simply follow their natural instincts and convince their underlings (fall guys) to do the "honorable" thing and commit suicide for the good of the corporation.  It's a win-win-win situation for upper management: they can't be found guilty if all of the people who might have squealed under pressure are dead, they lowered the payroll and...there's more available spaces in the parking lot!  And they would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for a meddling vigilante who always seems to be one step ahead of them.  Guess that means their just gonna have to start playing even dirtier.

Cynical story full of murder, betrayal and dishonesty that (sadly) wouldn't even hold a candle to the stuff that's going on nowadays, strong performances by an impressive cast, average pace that could have been sped up a bit, good direction, pretty much all tight and medium camera shots.

THE BAD SLEEP WELL might be too slow or dated for most modern day audiences, but fans of Kurosawa and classic Japanese cinema will enjoy it.

FLOATING CLOUDS (1955)

Bust out yer handkerchiefs!  This is a sad one.

1946.  Looking to escape her brother-in-law who "violated" her, 22-year-old Yukiko (Hideko Takamine) takes a job as a typist in Indochina.  While there she falls in love with co-worker Tomioka (Masayuki Mori) who's not only married, but also a womanizing playboy as well.  Eventually he goes back to his wife in Japan and Yukiko follows.  She's brokenhearted and endlessly pines away for this guy.  As the years pass they both have relationships with other people but still end up together over and over and over again.  It's kind of fascinating in a way because while they're obviously not good for each other (and they know it) they've somehow grown this unbreakable bond that prevents them from ever being apart for too long.

This is only my second Mikio Naruse film and I thought it was fantastic.  Not only was it an engaging story but it features three of the top actors from WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS!  Hideko Takamine, Masayuki Mori and Daisuke Kato...how cool is that?!  Now I can't wait to see what other Naruse films I can locate.  Anyway, back to FLOATING CLOUDS...I really enjoyed Naruse's naturalistic style and how he kept showing the two main characters walking side-by-side.  It almost seemed like a way to show the passage of time.  Anyway, while the direction was masterful I was once again captivated by Hideko Takamine's performance.  She conveys so much with just her face and body language.  It's beautiful to watch.  Masayuki Mori ain't too shabby either.  

Highly recommended, but very depressing.