In this loose adaptation of "Hamlet," illegitimate son Kôichi Nishi climbs to a high position within a Japanese corporation and marries the crippled daughter of company vice president Iwabuchi. At the reception, the wedding cake is a replica of their corporate headquarters, but an aspect of the design reminds the party of the hushed-up death of Nishi's father. It is then that Nishi unleashes his plan to avenge his father's death.
Direction
Kurosawa's corporate hellscapes rival his feudal ones.
Cinematography
Deep-focus shadows swallow characters whole.
Acting
Mifune's stillness before the storm is devastating.
Director
Akira Kurosawa
Toshirō Mifune
Kôichi Nishi
Masayuki Mori
Public Corporation Vice President Iwabuchi
Kamatari Fujiwara
Assistant-to-the-Chief Wada
Takeshi Katō
Itakura
Kyōko Kagawa
Yoshiko Nishi
Tatsuya Mihashi
Tatsuo Iwabuchi
Takashi Shimura
Administrative Officer Moriyama
Kō Nishimura
Contract Officer Shirai
Kyū Sazanka
Construction Company Executive Director Kaneko
Gen Shimizu
Managing Director Miura
Atsuko Ichinomiya
Mrs. Ariyama
Natsuko Kahara
Mrs. Furuya
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Made during Japan's post-war corporate boom, the film channels anxiety about salaryman culture replacing samurai honor codes—Nishi's 'Hamlet' is a sarariman.
The seven-minute opening wedding sequence, a masterpiece of escalating dread, was so complex Kurosawa storyboarded it like a military operation.
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