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Milkman Frankie

牛乳屋フランキー

1956 / 83 minutes / Unclassified all ages

A simple-minded milkman’s adventures as he navigates the big smoke!

Raised earnestly by his feudal grandfather in the countryside of Chōshū, Milkman Frankie is astonished by the strangers he encounters upon his arrival in Tokyo. Frankie possesses a unique combination of clumsiness and undying dedication reminiscent of bushidō samurai code. Committed to providing good service, he devotes his innovative imagination to saving a milk delivery business from bankruptcy – despite the ever-modernising Bulldog Milkmen poaching their customer base.  

Although released in the same year, Milkman Frankie offers a remarkable counterpoint to the notoriously controversial Juvenile Jungle. A wildly adventurous glimpse into the chaos of urban life, it is an early reference point for Nakahira’s characteristic fearlessness in experimenting with contextually prevalent themes and freedom of form. A slapstick caricature ingeniously disguised within fine-tuned classic Japanese humour, Milkman Frankie thoroughly quenches a country’s implicit thirst for satire in the wake of post-war rapid industrialisation.