Akira Kurosawa is of course one of the greatest Japanese directors of all time but he is also judged to make films that are very Westernized. I mention this because this one feels particularly Westernized to me from the nature of its plot to its esthetic. Indeed I later read that it is considered a very loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and yet is firmly set in Japan’s postwar era, known both for its poverty and its endemic corruption.

A large mass of reporters eagerly watch the wedding reception of the daughter of Public Development Corporation Vice President Iwabuchi and his secretary Koichi Nishi, especially when Wada an executive who was serving as the MC for the event is arrested for suspected bribery. Things get even more dramatic when an extra cake is wheeled in, in the shape of the company’s building and a particular window marked out. Five years ago another executive committed suicide by jumping out of that window during another bribery investigation. Over the next several days, the police receive tips from an anonymous informant, the company receives mysterious warnings and another executive commits suicide by running in front of a car. When Wada goes to commit suicide himself, he is stopped by Nishi who turns out to be the one secretly acting against Public Corporation. He reveals that he is the illegitimate son of Furuya who committed suicide by jumping from the building and wants revenge against Iwabuchi, However while he married Iwabuchi’s daughter Yoshiko as part of his plan, he has genuinely fallen in love with her.

I had some comprehension problems with the premise. Apparently Public Development Corporation really is a government-funded institution so corruption is a concern and yet these executives are not government servants. Even though there are a lot of characters in this film and it runs on for rather long, the corruption scheme seems too simple as no politicians are involved and the police really are trying to stamp out corruption. I interpret that to mean that Kurosawa’s indictment of corruption still doesn’t reach all the way to the top and thus is rather underwhelming by modern standards, somewhat undermining his theme that the evil-doers are not caught and sleep well. While I understand that societal pressure can be hugely powerful in Japan, it’s still a little difficult to accept how willing these underlings are to kill themselves to save their superiors in exchange for mere money that they won’t even get to enjoy. Kurosawa seems reluctant to go all the way to accuse that corruption is endemic at every level and so they don’t expect to get caught.

I do still like the film, if only for Kurosawa’s incredible presentation. There’s a kind of exaggerated, cinematic flair with everything from the formal wedding ceremony and how the hordes of reporters provide commentary that serve as exposition to Nishi’s campaign to drive one of the guilty executives insane with fear. Wada actually tries to kill himself by jumping into a live volcano, which makes no sense at all especially with how there is a signboard proclaiming it to be a Public Corporation development site, but it sure is dramatic. Despite the very significant length, the film flows wonderfully and is just a great watch even though I can’t say that the theme or the characters particularly resonate with me. It is very shocking however to see Kurosawa’s staple Toshiro Mifune playing Nishi here, with his usually unruly hair combed down and dressed in a tight suit, so very different from his usual samurai roles.

I also get Kurosawa’s intent here and that this is his attempt to make a Japanese noir film with the usual themes of corruption and rot that goes to the topmost echelons of society. The problem is that the conspiracy and evildoing here is so tame by Western standards. In a proper noir, Nishi’s wife might be shocked at her father’s crimes but might ultimately betray him of her own volition. The police would be the ones helping to cover up the bribery scandal, directed by their political masters and so on. Perhaps this is as far as he felt as he could go and perhaps that this is a realistic depiction of the Japanese situation of the period, but this sort of noir feels very restrained when compared to all of the other ones that we’ve seen already and hence it’s hard to feel much of an impact from it.