|
|
| Festival Year |
Festival Section |
| 2001 |
|
| Film Title |
KOSHIBEN GANBARE |
| Alternative Title 1 |
[FLUNKY, WORK HARD!] / [ODE TO A SALESMAN] |
| Alternative Title 2 |
[SERVITORE, LAVORA SODO!] / [ODE PER UN VENDITORE] |
| Alternative Title 3 |
|
| Country |
Japan |
| Release Date |
1931 |
| Production Co. |
Shochiku |
| Director |
Naruse, Mikio |
| Format |
|
Speed (fps) |
| 35mm |
|
18 |
| |
|
|
| Footage |
|
Time |
| 2543 ft. |
|
38' |
| Archive Source |
National Film Center |
| |
|
| Print Notes |
Didascalie in giapponese, sottotitoli in inglese / Japanese intertitles, English subtitles. |
| Cast |
Isamu Yamaguchi
Tomoko Naniwa
Seiichi Kato
Shizue Akiyama |
| |
| Other Credits |
| Miura, Mitsuo (ph.) |
| |
| Other Information |
Günther A. Buchwald, pianoforte.
prima proiezione / released 8.8.1931 |
| |
| Program Notes |
| Koshiben Ganbare is Naruse's earliest surviving film. This shoshimin eiga (film about the life of the common people, particularly the lower middle class) depicts an insurance salesman's hardships, and his anxiety at being father to a son. To persuade a rich family to buy insurance, he dares to flatter the mother of his son's friend. That is the burden of being a koshiben (a low-paid employee who brings his own lunch to work). When he finally makes up his mind to visit the mother of his son's friend, he sees another salesman from a rival company attempting to sell her insurance. With great difficulty he finally manages to get the mother to sign up for a policy. When he comes home, however, he finds out that his son, who is uninsured, has been injured in a railway accident. As a whole, although this film can be categorized as a nonsense comedy, its use of rapid montage reveals Naruse's commitment to stylized cinematic expression. - TS |
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