I Will Buy You (1956)

 Masaki Kobayashi's "I Will Buy You"


Based on the retrospective reviews of Masaki Kobayashi's 1956 film "I Will Buy You," one would think it was a lesser work in Japanese cinema at the time. After watching the film, I can confidently say that I wholeheartedly disagree. I found "I Will Buy You" to be completely engaging and thematically fulfilling. 

The film centers on a recruiter for a baseball team called the Toyo Flowers. The recruiter, Kisimoto, must sway a generationally talented hitter, Kurita, to join the Flowers. While contending with three competitors, Kishimoto must also garnish the favor of Kurita's shadowy benefactor, Kyuki and Kurita's girlfriend, Fudeko.

If you look at the film's rating on IMDb, you'll find that it has a 6.9. If you look at some reviews of the film, like film historians Donald Richie and Joseph L. Anderson who wrote in their 1959 compendium "The Japanese Film - Art & Industry" that "Kobayashi lacked the power to present a really smashing indictment." This is precisely what prevented me from really getting into the film when it started. However, I was completely won over.

I think Kobayashi's critiques in the film aren't inherently on the baseball industry, despite it being the whole plot-point. I think "I Will Buy You" manages to communicate the growing capitalist and consumerist mindset that swept Japan in the post-war era. The act of signing a star baseball player to a lucrative contract turns every party involved greedy and manipulative. It rips apart the humanity of the characters and turns every person into a commodity, every communication into a business deal, and every decision into a contractual obligation. By the end, everyone feels cheated and used. Everyone has been manipulated for the sake of profit. 

I found these thematic points to be really engaging. The climax of the film, in which Kurita must choose which team he is signing with, to be a culmination of the film's themes and critiques. It is a film that centers on ideas not normally associated with Japanese cinema. The capitalist takeover of an entire country is played out through the more intimate business of major league baseball and it's thoroughly entertaining.




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