Flunky, Work Hard!
{{Short description|1931 Japanese film}}
{{use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Flunky, Work Hard!
| native_name = {{Infobox Japanese| kanji = 腰弁頑張れ}}
| image = Flunky, Work Hard-1 1931.png
| caption =
| director = Mikio Naruse
| producer =
| writer = Mikio Naruse
| starring = {{ubl|Isamu Yamaguchi|Tomoko Naniwa|Seiichi Kato}}
| music =
| cinematography = Mitsuo Miura
| editing =
| studio = Shochiku
| distributor = Shochiku
| released = {{film date|1931|08|08|Japan|df=y}}{{cite web|url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1931/bg003710.htm |title=腰弁頑張れ (Flunky, Work Hard!) |website=Japanese Movie Database |language=ja |access-date=28 January 2021}}{{cite web |url=http://www.kinenote.com/main/public/cinema/detail.aspx?cinema_id=63879 |title=腰弁頑張れ (Flunky, Work Hard!) |publisher=Kinema Junpo |language=ja |access-date=28 January 2021}}
| country = Japan
| language = Japanese
}}
{{nihongo|Flunky, Work Hard!|腰弁頑張れ|Koshiben ganbare}} is a 1931 Japanese silent comedy drama film directed by Mikio Naruse, and the first surviving film by the director.
Plot
Insurance salesman Okabe is scolded by his wife for their shortage of money and for always being behind with their rental payments. He promises that the situation will be better soon, as he is about to sell an insurance policy to Mrs. Toda, a wealthy neighbour. At Mrs. Toda's house, he gets into an argument with Nakamura, a competing salesman. As a result, Mrs. Toda throws both of them out. Meanwhile, Okabe's son Susumu gets into a fight with the neighbour's kids, including Mrs. Toda's son, for not letting him play with their toy airplane. Okabe, afraid that Mrs. Toda might sue him, scolds Susumu and comforts her son, taking him home. Mrs. Toda, who has heard that a child was hit by a train, is relieved by the sight of Okabe and her son and agrees to buy an insurance from him. Okabe decides to surprise Susumu and buys a toy airplane for him. Back home he learns that it was his own son who was hit by the train, and runs to the hospital. Susumu is in a critical condition, but finally recovers.
Cast
- Isamu Yamaguchi as Okabe
- Tomoko Naniwa as Okabe's wife
- Seiichi Kato as Susumu, Okabe's son
- Shizue Akiyama as Mrs. Toda
- Tokio Seki as Nakamura
- Hideo Sugawara
Release
Flunky, Work Hard! premiered in Japan on 8 August 1931. It was shown in the U.S. as part of a Naruse retrospective in 1985, organised by the Kawakita Memorial Film Institute and film scholar Audie Bock.{{cite web|url=https://cinefiles.bampfa.berkeley.edu/catalog/31470 |title=Mikio Naruse: a master of the Japanese cinema |website=CineFiles |access-date=21 July 2021}}{{cite web|url=https://www.moma.org/momaorg/shared/pdfs/docs/press_archives/6228/releases/MOMA_1985_0082_79.pdf |title=Mikio Naruse: A Master of the Japanese Cinema Opens at MoMA September 23 |website=Museum of Modern Art |access-date=19 July 2023}}
Reception
Naruse biographer Catherine Russell called Flunky, Work Hard! a combination "of nansensu comedy,{{efn|"Nansensu", the Japanese loanword for "nonsense", can refer to the silly or to the sarcastic and satirical.[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09555800902856932?src=recsys William J. Tyler, Introduction: Making sense of nansensu] Japan Forum 21 no. 1 (2009)}} tendency film, and shoshimin-eiga with a particularly flamboyant method of decoupage".{{cite book |last=Russell |first=Catherine |date=2008 |title=The Cinema of Naruse Mikio: Women and Japanese Modernity |location=Durham and London |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-4290-8}}
Notes
{{Notelist}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0022036}}
- {{jmdb title|1931|bg003710|Flunky, Work Hard!}}
- {{cite web |url=https://windowsonworlds.com/2016/05/23/flunky-work-hard-%E8%85%B0%E5%BC%81%E9%A0%91%E5%BC%B5%E3%82%8C-mikio-naruse-1931/ |title=Flunky, Work Hard |work=Windows on Worlds |date=22 May 2016 |access-date=28 January 2021}}
- {{cite web |url=https://criterioncast.com/column/a-journey-through-the-eclipse-series/a-journey-through-the-eclipse-series-mikio-naruses-flunky-work-hard |title=A Journey Through the Eclipse Series: Mikio Naruse's Flunky, Work Hard |last=Blakeslee |first=David |website=criterioncast.com |date=13 December 2005 |access-date=28 March 2011}}
{{Mikio Naruse}}
Category:Japanese black-and-white films
Category:1931 comedy-drama films
Category:Japanese comedy-drama films
Category:1930s Japanese-language films
Category:Japanese silent short films