Based on the celebrated magazine series by Hitomi Yamaguchi and falling within the popular genre of Salaryman Comedies, this Japanese classic depicts the life of Eburi (played by Keiju Kobayashi in a career-defining role) and his mixed feelings about Japan’s social and economic outcome of the Second World War.

Ad man Eburi is 36 years old, an everyday joe working the grind with nothing in life to enthuse him. So when after a heavy night out he drunkenly promises two magazine editors that he will write them a masterpiece, he’s certainly setting himself a challenge. Once sober however, Eburi commits himself to the task of fulfilling his promise and after deliberating over what to write about, decides to write a novella using himself, his middle class life and his experiences as the theme.

Featuring animation and audacious editing this idiosyncratic and inventive comedy is a timeless masterpiece. Clever, very funny, and surprisingly insightful, there's a certain wisdom in its treatment of life in postwar Japan that manages to be both whimsical and soul-searching at the same time.

Image Credit: © 1963 Toho Co. Ltd

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