I Will Buy You

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	Zenzō Matsuyama Minoru Ōno (novel)
Produced by	Masaharu Kokaji
Starring	Keiji Sada Keiko Kishi Minoru Ōki Yūnosuke Itō Mitsuko Mito Eijirō Tōno Kōji Mitsui
Cinematography	Yuharu Atsuta
Edited by	Yoshiyasu Hamamura
Music by	Tadashi Kinoshita
Production company	Shochiku
Distributed by	Shochiku
Release date	21 November 1956 (1956-11-21) [1][2][3]
Running time	112 mins.
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Plot

Kishimoto 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

• 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

Film 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

• 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 [ja]^[7]

Legacy

I 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]