Movie Description
Humanity and Paper Balloons is a 1937 black-and-white film directed by Sadao Yamanaka, his last film. The story is set in the 18th century, and dramatically depicts the struggles and schemes of Unno, a ronin, or masterless samurai in feudal Japan, as well as those of his similarly impoverished neighbours.
Largely unknown outside of Japan for years, the film has been hailed by critics such as Tadao Sato and Donald Richie, and a number of other Japanese filmmakers, including Akira Kurosawa among them, as one of the most influential examples of jidaigeki, or Japanese period films.