Humanity and Paper Balloons

This film (drama)Also known as人情紙風船，is aJapanProducerwomen sex，At1937Released in year 。The dialogue language isJapanese，Current Douban rating8.4(For reference only)。

This film is the last work of Yoshio Yamashita and one of his representative works in the "period drama of the common people's cinema." In it, he draws on influences from American and French cinema, and the aesthetic of "small people's cinema" of his close friend and mentor Yasujirō Ozu, infusing the historical images of small characters from the Edo period with the language, character, behavior, and soul of modern common people, creating a rare masterpiece of social realism. The story takes place during the 18th century Tokugawa shogunate, narrating the somber lives of the lower class during this era, with the film beginning and ending with scenes of suicide, reflecting the sorrow of the grassroots in old Japanese society. Additionally, Yamashita's editing flows smoothly, the visual style is sharp like Japanese painting, and the actors' performances are very natural. This film is recognized as Yamashita's best work and is one of his last three films. Humanity and Paper Balloons, unlike most other Japanese films of this period, is a historical film with a critical edge. Refusing to glorify samurai, the film instead deflates the myth around them with a gentle humanity. The film opens directly after a penurious ronin samurai has taken his own life. At his funeral, his neighbors from his slum mourn his death. Here the film introduces another ronin samurai who lives in equal poverty. Having pawned his sword for food, the samurai searches for work but to no avail. The family's only income comes from the little balloon children's toys made by the wife. Out of desperation, the samurai abets in an attempted kidnapping. After finding out, the wife kills him in his sleep and then takes her own life, closing the film's narrative circle. Brian Whitener, All Movie Guide.