Humanity and Paper Balloons (1937)

Original title

人情紙風船

Directed by

Sadao Yamanaka

Genre

drama film

Country

Japan

Runtime

1h 26m

Rating

7.9 of 10 from 52 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

In a poor tenement community during the Tokugawa period, residents struggle with desperate poverty. Some turn to crime or suicide as a way out of their harsh lives.

melancholicbleakslow-burncontemplativetragicpessimisticgrittyrestrained

What happens

Humanity and Paper Balloons (人情紙風船, Ninjō kami fūsen) is a 1937 Japanese jidaigeki tragedy film directed by Sadao Yamanaka. The film follows the lives of the members of a small tenement community who live under the shadow of the Tokugawa Shogunate. In order to cope with their impoverished circumstances, some turn to crime or suicide. It was Yamanaka's last film before his death. In Japan it is regarded as one of the country's best films by critics. Kinema Junpo, the leading film magazine of Japan, ranked it the 23rd (tied) best Japanese film of all time in a 2009 poll of leading critics. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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