This movie is about a polite and genial young bus driver who is given the nickname of Mr Thank You due to him giving thanks loudly to people that move out of the way of his rickety bus on the narrow high mountain lanes in Izu prefecture. He likes to exchange pleasantries with the passengers and even delivers messages and parcels to stops on the route. On this trip to a train station a number of interesting people come on-board the bus which includes a mother and her 17 year old daughter, a flirtatious young modern woman who tries to get freebies such as cigarettes from Mr Thank You and an obnoxious pompous loan salesman who has his eye on the 17 year old girl and complains all the time.
This is an excellent road movie of a bus trip through the Japanese countryside which has been directly brilliantly by Hiroshi Shimizu. Even though it is primarily a light comedy, it is also a poignant and bittersweet story which hints at the hard times that the people of Japan were going through during the 1930’s. Of all the passengers that hop on-and-off on Mr Thank You’s bus during this trip, it’s the story about a mother and daughter that’s the most heart-breaking. The pretty 17 year old is on her way to catch a train to Tokyo which at first the viewer thinks she is going to get a proper job in the city but the truth is revealed that she is going to be sold by her mother into prostitution. The sad sorrowful look on the young girl’s face with her eyes looking down as she is resigned to her fate reflects what many widowed mothers had to do during the bleak days of the Depression with the country’s resources going to the military. A lot of young girls living in mountain villages had to be sold off to prostitution as money was very tight for poverty stricken families. Even though the 17 year old is hoping to come back home in the future, the modern woman sitting at the front of the bus states that once they leave the area none of them ever come back. She even draws the unwelcome attention of a lecherous loan salesman who keeps constantly glancing back at her sitting at the rear of the bus with her mother. Luckily the modern woman who might or might not have been a prostitute in the past gives the young girl some advice that Tokyo is full of people like him and that she’d better watch herself. It is even seen that Mr Thank You has a soft spot for her as he looks at the young girl often through his mirror though I’m not sure if that’s because he is protective of her or he has some romantic feelings. There’s a sense of community amongst the middle and working class passengers on the bus even though it is short-lived just for the journey’s duration. The way that the director has captured the everyday lives of ordinary people in this movie is wonderful to see. There’s no plot as such and the movie is carried along by the interaction amongst the passengers and the people on the road that the bus passes by. Even though the viewer is made aware that things are bleak for everybody, the mood of the movie is far from gloomy and is punctuated by some very funny humour with a lot of the comedy centred on the attitude of the loan salesman.
The lead character Mr Thank You (we are never given his real name or any of the passengers either) played by Ken Ushara is one of those people that doesn’t seem to have a bad bone in his body. Always with a smile on his face, he knows everybody on the route that his bus travels on. Even if somebody complains on the bus which the moustachioed gruff loan salesman does on numerous occasions, he never raises his voice and the calm friendly authority that he displays is reassuring for the rest of the passengers. He is even nice towards a Korean female immigrant road construction worker who is seen walking to her next work assignment. He agrees to her request that every now and then he will put flowers on her fathers grave because she is moving away from the area. Minority groups in Japan aren’t treated all that well so it was good to see Shimizu showing some respect for them.
The cinematography is one of the highlights of this movie. The viewer is treated to a bygone era of Japan that is long gone with many beautiful and scenic shots of the Japanese coastline, countryside and narrow mountain passes. What is more remarkable about this movie is it was shot entirely on location and even without a script! The dialogue was largely improvised. I cannot understand why Shimizu isn’t recognised as one of the great Japanese directors as Kurosawa, Mizoguchi and his contemporary Yasujiro Ozu over in the West. He was such a talented individual and this movie is a shining example of the incredible work he created. I believe that even in Japan he’s largely forgotten these days which is a disgrace.
This is as close to perfection as you can get. Mr Thank You is one of those movies with such a cracking story and a great cast of characters that you wouldn’t mind spending more time with. You get a glimpse of what the real Japan was like in the 1930’s. I thoroughly enjoyed this 76 minute bus journey and I was sad that it ended a little bit too soon. Highly recommended.
No trailer but here’s a great clip of Mr Thank You talking to the Korean immigrant worker
Sadako’s Rating: 5 stars out of 5
Sadako's Movie Shack 
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