Eburi is a 36 year-old man. Nothing enthuses him any more. While being drunk, he promises to contribute a story to a magazine. When he sobers down, he decides to write about the life of a salaried employee like himself who is very ordinary, not particularly talented.
The following is his story:
In 1949, Eburi gets married to Natsuko. His monthly salary is 8,000 yen and hers 4,000 yen. Therefore, both have to work to support themselves. Eburi has developed a habituIl tendency to pester around when he gets drunk. One year after their marriage, son Shosuke is born. In 1959, Eburi's mother dies in despair of her husband who has become listless due to the several ups and downs of gaining big profits and going bankrupt. His father is still alive and Eburi is enable to find a way to pay his father's debts. He is doubtful if he can make his wife and child happy. Nevertheless, he has somehow managed to survive so far, living in one of the houses at the employee housing quarters. He gives the title "The Elegant Life of Mr. Everyman" to his story of half novel and half essay style. When it is published, it receives the Naoki Literary Prize (the award given in memory of popular writer Naoki Sanjugo). At a party to celebrate his award, he gets drunk and pesters around.
Notes
The film is based on a novel written in the style of an essay under the same title by Yamaguchi Hitomi, depicting everyday life of a man categorized as "During-the-war Generation" who spent school days during the war and get married to start new life in the struggling post-war era. "Everyman" in the title means an average salaried employee who makes up an overwhelming majority of the city population in Japan, and "The Elegant Life" indicates sarcasm on betterment of the standard of living of ordinary salaried employees accompanied with Japan's economic growth after only a decade from the destroyed post-war period. As depicted in the film, the author Yamaguchi Hitomi was awarded the Naoki Literature Prize for this story. When he established himself well enough to become independent, he quit working as a salaried employee. Director Okamoto Kihachi and the leading actor Kobayashi Keiju belong to the same generation as the author. Exploiting innovative effects such as inserting animation sequences, the film humorously presents compassion of a middle-aged salaried employee. Kobayashi Keiju, who was originally noted for his excellent portrayal of salaried employee, won the best leading actor award of the Mainichi Film Contest for his superb performance in this picture.。《12把椅子》小说中的骗子主角奥斯塔普·本德尔的前传故事。 1919年。命运使得年轻的理想主义者奥修与土耳其臣民、骗子易卜拉欣·本德展开对决。正直的奥修永远不会和这样一个肆无忌惮、狡猾的骗子联系在一起,除非他们被一场极其危险的冒险结合在一起——追捕国王的遗物,一根珍贵的魔杖,当地的土匪和白军军官毫不关心。在一系列令人眩晕的冒险中,奥修被迫向易卜拉欣学习迷人的奉承、微妙的欺骗、诱人的勒索以及…野蛮的力量。所有这一切——都是为了让这个城市最纯洁的女孩爱上他!或者说是致命的外国美女……。影片讲述了三个不同年龄段的人孤独的故事。。