Mr. Thank You
About Mr. Thank You
A bus driver nicknamed Mr. Thank You (Ken Uehara) drives from the Izu mountains toward Tokyo, calling out thanks whenever someone on the narrow road lets the bus pass. His passengers include a mother (Kaoru Futaba) and her daughter (Mayumi Tsukiji), who is being taken to Tokyo to be sold, and a woman in a black collar (Michiko Kuwano). Along the road he also meets a Korean working woman arranging her father's funeral. He marries the daughter and keeps her from that sale.
Cast & crew
More about Mr. Thank You
Hiroshi Shimizu wrote and directed Arigatō-san from Yasunari Kawabata's 1925 palm-of-the-hand story Arigatō. In the story the only passengers are the mother and daughter, bound for a harbor town. Isamu Aoki photographed the film. Keizō Horiuchi wrote the music. Shochiku released it on 27 February 1936. Criterion's notes say it was shot on location without a shooting script.
Themes
Background
The bus leaves rural Izu in 1936, when families in the film are selling a daughter to get through a hard year.
Making
Shimizu kept the camera on the bus and the people it passed, instead of building the road in a studio.
Look
Isamu Aoki shot the film on the road. The recurring view is from the windshield, then a look back at the person the bus has just passed.
Music
Keizō Horiuchi wrote the music.
Preservation
The film survives at 76 minutes. Criterion issued it in Eclipse Series 15.
Notes
- The driver's nickname is the word he shouts, arigatō, each time a pedestrian steps aside.
- Kawabata's story sends the girl 35 miles north to be sold to a man she has never met. The film sends the bus toward Tokyo and adds other passengers.
- Setsuko Shinobu plays the daughter of a man who has come back from Tokyo. Ryūji Ishiyama plays a bearded gentleman. Einosuke Naka plays a peddler.
- Criterion included it in Eclipse Series 15, Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu.
- The Japanese title is 有りがたうさん.
Scenes
- The driver bows his thanks each time a walker steps off the narrow road.
- A mother rides with the daughter she is taking to be sold in Tokyo.
- He marries the daughter at the end of the run.
Influenced by
- Arigatō by Yasunari Kawabata (1925)
Also available
- Criterion Eclipse Series 15: Travels with Hiroshi Shimizu
