Ninjo kami fusen (1937)

User Rating:

7.7/10   

Director:

Sadao Yamanaka

Writer:

Shintarô Mimura (writer)

Release Date:

August 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Cast

Chojuro Kawarasaki	...	Matajuro Unno, a samurai
Kanemon Nakamura	...	Shinza, the barber
Tsuruzo Nakamura
Choemon Bando
Sukezo Sukedakaya	...	Landlord
Emitaro Ichikawa
Noboru Kiritachi
Shizue Yamagishi	...	Otaki, Matajuro's wife
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Daisuke Katô	...	Isuke - Yatagoro henchman

Also Known As:

Ballad of the Paper Balloons (International: English title)
Humanity and Paper Balloons

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG

Company:

P.C.L. Co. Ltd.

Movie Connections:

Featured in 100 Years of Japanese Cinema (1994) (TV)

pre war Japanese milestone

This is my favorite Japanese film along with Mizoguchi's "Street of shame", Naruse's "Floating clouds" and Ozu's "Late spring". It's for me also one of the best 1937 movies, maybe the best, but McCarey's "Make way for tomorrow" deserves that honour too. I've seen in very few movies such beauty, such indignation and courage to pass over a miserable existence (that unforgettable character named Shinza, the Tom Joad of the story) and i must admit that the final ten minutes are the best thing i've seen in years. It will probably seem a tiny film, sober and little in all aspects but if you can pay attention it's a moving experience and one the most important proofs of the superiority of cinema above all arts.