Directed by: Sadao Yamanaka
1937
/ 86 minutes
/ Unclassified all ages
Like paper balloons, their hopes drift—too light to land, too fragile to last.
Set in the rain-slicked alleyways of Edo’s slums, Humanity and Paper Balloons is a haunting swan song from visionary director Sadao Yamanaka. Adapted from the kabuki play Shinza the Barber, the film follows the daily struggles of two neighbours, whose fates bind in a botched kidnapping scheme. While Shinza, a reckless barber, dreams of defying the powerful merchant class, penniless rōnin Matajūrō is sustained only by his wife’s work of making fragile paper balloons, and drifts between shame and desperation.
Yamanaka’s final work strips away the romanticised veneer of the samurai genre, portraying swordsmen not as noble warriors, but as pawns complicit in a rigid, exploitative hierarchy. Through its tightly woven script and piercing social insight, the film presents a bleak yet sympathetic depiction of life at the margins. With its sombre tone and masterful restraint, Yamanaka’s film stands as one of Japan’s most poignant prewar masterpieces, a quiet elegy for dignity lost in the shadows of power.
Special feature Nezumikozō Jirokichi included with this screening
National Film and Sound Archive, Canberra
Walk-ins only. Doors open 15 minutes prior to the screening.
QAGOMA, Brisbane
Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney
Walk-ins only. Doors open 15 minutes prior to the screening.
QAGOMA, Brisbane
Director: Sadao Yamanaka
Cast: Chōjūrō Kawarasaki, Kanemon Nakamura and Shizue Yamagishi
Genre: Special Series
Language(s): Japanese with English subtitles
Format: DCP b&w