I Will Buy You (あなた買います, Anata kaimasu) is a 1956 Japanese drama film directed by Masaki Kobayashi.[1][2][3]
| I Will Buy You | |
|---|---|
| Japanese name | |
| Kanji | あなた買います |
| Directed by | Masaki Kobayashi |
| Written by |
|
| Produced by | Masaharu Kokaji |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Yuharu Atsuta |
| Edited by | Yoshiyasu Hamamura |
| Music by | Tadashi Kinoshita |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Shochiku |
Release date |
|
Running time | 112 mins. |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Plot
editKishimoto is a talent scout for the Toyo Flowers baseball club, one of three competitors who try to buy new promising hitter Kurita for their team. While Kurita's shadowy benefactor and manager Kyuki, who financed the student's education, is making negotiations, Kurita's girlfriend Fudeko tries to talk him out of entering the professional baseball league. The competitors finally meet at the countryside home of Kurita's family, who have their own plans for their son and brother.
Cast
edit- Keiji Sada as Kishimoto
- Yūnosuke Itō as Kyuki
- Keiko Kishi as Fudeko, Kurita's girlfriend
- Minoru Ōki as Kurita
- Eijirō Tōno as Ogushi
- Mitsuko Mito as Ryuko, Kyuki's mistress
- Kōji Mitsui as Tamekichi
- Jun Tatara as Yusuke Shima
- Akio Isono as Saburō
Reception
editFilm historians Donald Richie and Joseph L. Anderson wrote in their 1959 compendium The Japanese Film – Art & Industry that "Kobayashi lacked the power to present a really smashing indictment".[4] In his Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day, Alexander Jacoby called I Will Buy You a "critique of commercial values in the world of sport" which benefited from the persona of actor Yūnosuke Itō.[5]
Awards
edit- Mainichi Film Award,[6] Blue Ribbon Award[7] and Kinema Junpo Award for Best Actor Keiji Sada
- Blue Ribbon Award for Best Supporting Actor Jun Tatara[7]
Legacy
editI Will Buy You was presented as part of the retrospective "Against Authority: The Cinema of Masaki Kobayashi" at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in 2019.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b "あなた買います (Anata kaimasu)". Japanese Movie Database (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 May 2022.
- ^ a b "あなた買います (Anata kaimasu)". Kinenote (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 May 2022.
- ^ a b "あなた買います (Anata kaimasu)". Shochiku (in Japanese). Retrieved 22 May 2022.
- ^ Anderson, Joseph L.; Richie, Donald (1959). The Japanese Film – Art & Industry. Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo: Charles E. Tuttle Company. p. 285.
- ^ Jacoby, Alexander (2008). Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. p. 122. ISBN 978-1-933330-53-2.
- ^ "Mainichi Film Awards 1956". Mainichi (in Japanese). Retrieved 24 March 2023.
- ^ a b "Blue Ribbon Awards 1956". Cinema Hochi (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 18 October 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
- ^ "I Will Buy You". BAMPFA. Retrieved 16 July 2023.