Mr. Thank You

Mr. Thank You (有りがたうさん, Arigatō-san) is a 1936 Japanese comedy-drama film written and directed by Hiroshi Shimizu.[4][5] It is based on a short story by Nobel Prize-winning novelist Yasunari Kawabata,[6] and noted for its portrayal of depression-era Japan and its location shooting.[7][8]

Mr. Thank You
Ken Uehara and Michiko Kuwano in
Mr. Thank You
Directed byHiroshi Shimizu
Screenplay byHiroshi Shimizu
Based onArigatō
by Yasunari Kawabata
Starring
CinematographyIsamu Aoki
Music byKeizō Horiuchi
Release date
  • 27 February 1936 (1936-02-27)
[1]
Running time
76 minutes[2][3]
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

A bus driver, nicknamed Mr. Thank You due to his expressions of gratitude to other road users who give way on the narrow mountain roads, drives from rural Izu to faraway Tokyo. The film portrays the passengers and their diverse reasons for travel, like a mother and her daughter who is destined to be sold in Tokyo, and the people they meet on the way, including a Korean working woman who makes funeral arrangements for her deceased father. In the end, Mr. Thank You marries the daughter to save her from her fate.

Cast
  • Ken Uehara as Mr. Thank You
  • Michiko Kuwano as Woman in black collar
  • Mayumi Tsukiji as Girl being sold
  • Kaoru Futaba as Girl's mother
  • Setsuko Shinobu as Daughter of man who returned from Tokyo
  • Ryuji Ishiyama as Gentleman with beard

Literary source

Mr. Thank You is based on Yasunari Kawabata's 1925 short story Thank You (Arigatō), which itself is part of his Palm-of-the-Hand Stories cycle.[9] In Kawabata's original story, the only passengers portrayed are the mother and daughter, who are driving to a harbour town 35 miles north, where the girl will be sold to a man she has never met. The mother begs the driver to take care for her daughter, who seems to find him sympathetic. After an argument in the lodging house, where the trio stayed overnight, the driver reluctantly agrees to take the girl with him, but only for the cold season.

References
  1. "有りがたうさん (Mr. Thank You)". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  2. 有りがたうさん / Mr. Thank you (1936). OCLC 711794612. Retrieved 27 December 2020 – via worldcat.org.
  3. "Shimizu Hiroshi Collection - Part 1 Yamaai No Fukei vs. Eclipse Series 15: Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu". Dvdbeaver. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  4. "ARIGATO-SAN (1936)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 13 October 2021.
  5. "Mr. Thank You (1936) - The Criterion Collection". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 18 March 2016.
  6. Koresky, Michael (16 March 2009). "Eclipse Series 15: Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu". The Criterion Collection. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  7. Jacoby, Alexander (2008). Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-53-2.
  8. Richie, Donald (2005). A Hundred Years of Japanese Film (Revised ed.). Tokyo, New York, London: Kodansha International. ISBN 978-4-7700-2995-9.
  9. Kawabata, Yasunari (1988). "Thank You". Palm-of-the-Hand Stories. Translated by Holman, J. Martin. San Francisco: North Point Press. pp. 41–44.
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