Daily Archives: October 15, 2013

Humanity and Paper Balloons (“Ninjô kami fûsen”)
Directed by Sadao Yamanaka
Written by Shintarô Mimura
1937/Japan
Photo Chemical Laboratories (Sony)/Toho Company/Zenshin-za
First viewing

[box] “Lastly I say to my seniors and friends: Please make good movies.” From the last will and testament of director Yamanaka Sadao[/box]

I don’t really know whether this is a sad comedy or a funny tragedy.  Whatever it is, it is a small masterpiece.

As might be expected from such a film, the plot is quite complex, subtle and unexpected and I won’t give away too much here.

The story takes place during the Edo period (1603-1867) in a slum quarter of the capital.  It begins with the off-screen suicide of a samurai by hanging.  This inconveniences all the occupants of the crowded street happening on such a fine day and they grouse and complain.  Their irritation is eased however when the local gangster/hair dresser Shinza talks the landlord into giving a wake to lift the “curse” of the place with plenty of sake.

Unno, a ronin (unemployed samurai) and apparently a recovering alcoholic, lives in the quarter with his wife, who supports the couple by making paper balloons.  He spends much of the picture following a former colleague of his samurai father.  Unno is convinced that, if the man would just read a letter written to him by Unno’s deceased father, the man would get him employment.  He is not having much luck in securing an audience, however, as the man avoids him at every turn.  The man is busy arranging the marriage of a pawnbroker’s daughter to a high court official.

Meanwhile, Shinza is running an illegal gambling operation which infringes on the turf of a more powerful gangster.  He is repeatedly beaten up by the gangster and his gang, who are also employees of the pawnbroker.  Shinza finds a way to get even when he chances upon the pawnbroker’s daughter in a compromising position with the pawnbroker’s clerk.

I loved this film.  I love the way the writer just drops you in the middle of things with no notion where they will lead and keeps your interest the whole way.  I love the many well-drawn characters and the way they are portrayed by a gifted ensemble cast.  It is really unlike anything else I have seen.  I suppose it most resembles a more comic version of Kurasawa’s The Lower Depths if one needs a reference point.   Highly recommended.

Humanity and Paper Balloons premiered the same day that Yamanaka was drafted into the Japanese army. He later died in a field hospital in Japanese-ruled Manchukuo, China. He was 28 years old.

I watched this on Hulu Plus.  It is also currently available on YouTube.

Clip – film footage begins at around 55 second mark – the wake