Mr. Thank You (1936)
"Arigatô-san" (original title)

Mr. Thank You is the kindly young driver of a local bus traveling from poverty stricken coastal villages, over the mountains, to the town. He thanks everybody when they let his bus pass on ... See full summary »

Director:

Hiroshi Shimizu

Writers:

Yasunari Kawabata (novel), Hiroshi Shimizu (screenplay)

Stars:

Shôsuke Agata, Kiyoshi Aono, Bakudankozo

Cast

Credited cast:
Shôsuke Agata	...	Man on wake
Kiyoshi Aono	...	Old countryman
Bakudankozo	...	Itinerant entertainer
Shôtarô Fujimatsu	...	Primary school student
Kaoru Futaba
Masao Hayama	...	Primary school student
Yoshitarô Iijima	...	Primary school student
Tsuruhiko Ikebe	...	Pharmacist
Takashi Ishiyama	...	Gentleman with beard
Mitsuyoshi Kanai	...	Old villager
Shiro Katsuragi	...	Groom
Kanji Kawahara
Kimie Kawai	...	Newly-wed woman
Reikichi Kawamura	...	Villager fromTokyo
Masae Koike	...	Itinerant entertainer

Storyline

Mr. Thank You is the kindly young driver of a local bus traveling from poverty stricken coastal villages, over the mountains, to the town. He thanks everybody when they let his bus pass on the narrow road. Among the passengers is a worldly young woman, who flirts with the driver while trying to put the villagers in their place. There is also an embarrassed mother who is taking her virginal daughter to the train station to be sent to Tokyo, presumably to be sold.

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Plot Keywords:

bus | driver | passenger | countryside | mother daughter relationship | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Also Known As:

Mr. Thank You

Company Credits

Production Co:

Shochiku Ofuna

Technical Specs

Runtime:

78 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

Slight, but pretty good

Nice little Japanese comedy. Mr. Thank You is a bus driver who often brings people from the country to Tokyo. As he drives along the narrow dirt roads, he profusely thanks the farmers and such who move to the side as he passes them. At one village, he picks up a 17 year old girl and her mother. The girl is being transported to Tokyo, where her mother will sell her into prostitution. It's the Great Depression, and the family can no longer afford to support her. Over the course of the trip, Mr. Thank You becomes more and more aware of the girl's sad face. The rest of the bus chat amongst themselves, drink, smoke, whatever. The film runs about 80 minutes, and, honestly, is pretty slight. The titular character and the young girl are rather dull people. A couple of the other passengers are more interesting, but they also are generic types of people (e.g., modern woman or stuffy businessman). It's funny much of the time, and well filmed. I like seeing the Japanese countryside and its people. Japanese films of every era focus way too much on just Tokyo that it's easy to forget the rest of the country.