the party and walk over to a nearby bridge. Shinza knows that he is no match for Yatagoro in a fight, but accepts his fate calmly and bravely. Unno comes back home drunk. When confronted by his wife, he lies to her again, promising that he gave the letter to Mouri and that he must now wait for the turmoil of the kidnapping to subside. After he passes out on the floor, she finds his father's letter still in his pocket and finally knows for certain that Mouri has mistreated and insulted her husband all along. As a last resort to save their honor, she takes out a tantō (short sword) and kills her husband and then commits seppuku. The neighbors find their bodies the next day, but suicides happen in the slum so often that they see no meaning in their demise. The film ends with a little boy running to tell the landlord about the deaths and dropping a kamifusen into a drainage gutter full of running water. Floating in the current, the paper balloon recedes into the distance. Cast Chojuro Kawarazaki as Unno Matajuro, a samurai Kanemon Nakamura as Shinza, the hairdresser Shizue Yamagishi Noboru Kiritachi Tsuruzo Nakamura Choemon Bando Suzeko Suketakaya Emitaro Ichikawa Daisuke Katō Production and release Humanity and Paper Balloons was written by Shintarō Mimura, based on his play. It was the final film by director Sadao Yamanaka before his untimely death at 28, of whose films only three are extant. The film was released in Japan on 25 August 1937. It was later released in the United States with English subtitles in August 1982. Reception In his book A hundred years of Japanese film, Donald Richie called Yamanaka "perhaps the finest" of the directors of the new jidaigeki, and Humanity and Paper Balloons his finest effort. Jasper Sharp of Midnight Eye described the film as "a fascinating time capsule of a movie that not only reframes the feudal period in which it is set to present a harsh critique of the social and political conditions of the time it was made, but also demonstrates just how tight, coherent, and entertaining films from this period actually were." In 2012, Spanish film programmer Fran Gayo listed the film as one of the greatest films of all time. References Further reading Arne Svensson: Japan: Screen Series, Zwemmer/Barnes, 1970. External links 1937 films 1937 drama films Japanese