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.。宁静的小镇突然接连发生了离奇的死亡事件,一个四口之家的成员接连丧命。呆瓜警察埃伯霍夫觉察了到了别人没发现的蹊跷之处……。在四·一二大屠杀的白色恐怖影响下,一些中共党员宣布退党或叛变。王自青所在的组织有十三名成员,除他以外全部叛变,他们在报上登了退党声明并加上了他的名字。王自青成了名义上的叛徒,王他决定独自为组织消灭这些叛徒。几经周折,王自青当了记者并开始了他的暗杀计划。 王自青租的公寓里住着他的好友警官杨志超和妓女绮绮。绮绮的佣人樊可人是中统训练有素的特工,受行动小组组长张丙指派监视共党嫌疑分子王自青。张丙是十二个叛徒中的一个,一次偶然的机会,他看见了正在采访的王自青。张丙知道王没有叛变,为了查出他背后的党组织,他派樊可人接近王自青。 杨志超是负责侦破暗杀社会名流案件的警官,王自青从他身上获得了不少线索。在第十一起案子发生时,杨志超知道了凶手是谁。而樊可人在与王自青的接触中对他产生了爱意,樊给张丙的报告毫无进展,致使张不再信任她。一起叛变的人不断死掉,使张丙惊恐万分,...。