Salaryman Kintaro (film)

Salaryman Kintaro (サラリーマン金太郎, Sarariiman Kintaro), also known as White-Collar Worker Kintaro,[1][2][3] is a 1999 Japanese live-action drama[4] film based on Hiroshi Motomiya's manga series Salaryman Kintaro.

Salaryman Kintaro
Directed byTakashi Miike
Screenplay by
  • Kenji Nakazono
  • Naoko Harada
Based onSalaryman Kintaro by Hiroshi Motomiya
Produced by
  • Morihiro Kodama
  • Mitsunori Morita
  • Kazuya Hamana
CinematographyHideo Yamamoto
Edited byYasushi Shimamura
Music byKouji Endou
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • December 13, 1999 (1999-12-13)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

Former motorcycle gang leader[4][5][6] Kintaro Yajima is a dedicated father to his son Ryuta and holds a white-collar job performing cost calculations at the Yamato construction company. While defending a hostess's honor at the company's 40th anniversary party, Kintaro inadvertently insults Mr. Tanioka, an influential politician, and causes a construction project contract intended for Yamato to be awarded to the rival Oshima company instead. As punishment, Kintaro is relocated from Tokyo to Tōhoku to work under Mr. Igo, an angry man who spends all day playing mahjong and drinking and who accepts bribes from competing construction companies to allow them to underbid him for projects. Kintaro and his son Ryuta stay with Kayo Nakamura and her daughter Masumi, who has done some investigating and learned that her supposedly deceased father is actually Mr. Igo.

Meanwhile, Mr. Oshima conspires with Mr. Tanioka to get all of Yamato's future construction projects cancelled and form an empire with other construction companies under Mr. Tanioka. The ambitious Takatska sees Mr. Oshima leaving Mr. Tanioka's office together with Mr. Kuramoto from the company Hokutoh Sohken. After Kintaro rescues a baby from a burning building, the baby's father Mr. Handa asks Kintaro personally for a cost estimate for the upcoming renovation of town hall. Mr. Shibamata suggests to Kintaro that he should allow the contract to go to Shibamata's company, which would the hire Yamato as a subcontractor. Kintaro refuses, breaking the old-fashioned tradition of pre-agreements for public contracts.

When the final bids are read aloud by Mr. Handa, Shibamata's bid is mysteriously 300 yen lower than Yamato's. Kintaro demands to see the bid documents and discovers that the cost estimate was left blank on Shibamata's bid and that Shibamata had forced Handa to state an amount lower than Yamato's bid. Handa confesses and later hangs himself from a bridge. Men from the Tempoh Gang kidnap Kintaro and beat him but Masumi asks for her father's help so Mr. Igo finds the men and beats them. Igo discovers Tanioka's plan to drive the larger construction companies out of business and develop a large conglomerate out of smaller companies under his control and explains it to Kintaro, Yamato, and Kayo. A mail bomb later explodes in Igo's office, leaving him hospitalized. A mail bomb sent to Kayo's home explodes and injures Kayo and Ryuta. Kintaro asks Yamato to look after Ryuta as he leaves to settle the score.

Kintaro calls together 2,000 members of his old motorcycle gang known as the Angels but the city's police force blocks their movement. Kintaro and his yakuza brother Tadashi Shiina continue alone to confront the Tempoh Gang and its leader Kudoh. Just as Kintaro is about to cut off Kudoh's head, Igo arrives and says that he will punish Kudoh and that Kintaro should go be a salaryman. Outside, dozens of police with riot shields block the street and arrest Kintaro for traffic violations, bodily harm, and burglary.

Yamato visits Kintaro in prison and calls him a hero. Kintaro is sentenced to six months in prison but the sentence is reduced to probation for one year due to the extenuating circumstances of Kintaro's family being under the threat of violence from the Tempoh Gang. Takatska provides evidence to the public prosecutor that Tanioka has been taking bribes from Hokutoh Sohken, leading to a wave of arrests. Kintaro leaves the court and is greeted by a crowd of cheering supporters along with Masumi and Ryuta.

Cast

Production

The film was produced by Toho[7] and was intended to form a bridge between two seasons of the television series.[8]

Release

The film was released on December 13, 1999.[7]

Home video

The film released on DVD in the United States through Pathfinder Home Entertainment under the title White Collar Worker Kintaro on October 26, 2004.[7]

Reception

In his book Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike, author Tom Mes calls Salaryman Kintaro "thoroughly conventional" and "outright commercial".[9]

Reviewer Rouven Linnarz of Asian Movie Pulse called Salaryman Kintaro "a very generic film" with a "one-dimensional" message and lead character.[10]

References
  1. Jacoby, Alexander (February 10, 2013). A Critical Handbook of Japanese Film Directors: From the Silent Era to the Present Day. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 9781611725315 – via Google Books.
  2. Mes, Tom (January 3, 2006). Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike. FAB Press. ISBN 9781903254417 – via Google Books.
  3. Mes, Tom; Sharp, Jasper (January 3, 2005). The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 9781880656891 – via Google Books.
  4. DiPaolo, Marc (January 10, 2014). War, Politics and Superheroes: Ethics and Propaganda in Comics and Film. McFarland. ISBN 9780786485796 – via Google Books.
  5. Hendry, Joy (July 9, 2019). Understanding Japanese Society. Routledge. ISBN 9781351179898 – via Google Books.
  6. "DVDuncut.com - Salaryman Kintaro (uncut)". www.dvduncut.com.
  7. IV, Stuart Galbraith (May 16, 2008). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9781461673743 – via Google Books.
  8. Mes, Tom (January 3, 2006). Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike. FAB Press. ISBN 9781903254417 – via Google Books.
  9. Mes, Tom (January 3, 2006). Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike. FAB Press. ISBN 9781903254417 – via Google Books.
  10. Linnarz, Rouven (August 8, 2019). "Film Review: Salaryman Kintaro (1999) by Takashi Miike".
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