dir. Akira Kurosawa
writ. Hideo Oguni, Eijiro Hisaita, Akira Kurosawa, Ryuzo Kikushima, Shinobu Hashimoto
feat. Toshiro Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Kyoko Kagawa, Tatsuya Mihashi, Takashi Shimura, Ko Nishimura, Takeshi Kato, Kamatari Fujiwara, Chishu Ryu
Kurosawa's take on corporate corruption alternates between a routine procedural and a heated futile quest for revenge. Far too many conversations about who did what, when and to whom fall between Nishi's (Mifune) brutal yet calculated steps toward routing those who have done him wrong and exacting his own idea of justice upon them.
But instead of taking a straight line, the story wanders, emotions and confusion blocking any clear paths to retaliation, as though the writers (reportedly five of them on this one) couldn't resist exploring every avenue. Though this meandering muddles the plot from time to time, it also brings a human touch to characters such as Wada (Fujiwara), a whining, fearful executive assistant who manages to stop mewling long enough to force an unexpected emotional confrontation between Nishi and his wife. The time and energy spent on the relationship between Nishi and his wife, an otherwise pawn in his path to revenge, beautifully delineates the difference between people, rife with emotions and conflicts, and corporations, dedicated only to hierarchies and the protection of profit.
Naturally, there is some crossover between realms, people called upon to execute the needs and wishes of the company, those whose ultimate alliance is with the organization. Here, we have a perfect specimen in Iwabuchi (Mori), eager and willing to sacrifice whatever it takes to preserve the system. His boundless servility has an almost comic edge in the end, an early warning sign of explorations of foul systems to come, such as The Trial or Brazil.
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