william d
I must admit that some of the characters' actions perplexed me. Guess I'm not "Japanese" enough. That still did not stop me from loving this poignant and moving film.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
03/31/23
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Audience Member
Director Sadao Yamanaka made twenty or so films in the 1930s in Japan but only three survive. Humanity and Paper Balloons was his final film. Some say that because it offered a less than positive view of Japan in the Edo-era (all of his films are jidaigekis; i.e., period films), that he was purposefully drafted and sent to war in Manchuria by the nationalistic government in power then. He died there in 1938 leaving only the squandered promise that he could have offered masterpieces alongside Ozu, Mizoguchi, Naruse, or Kurosawa. Indeed, Humanity... offers a complex microcosm of a Japanese society where the poor are ghettoized, live in a world controlled by gangster and thugs, where the rich look down on those worse off, and masterless samurai (ronin) turn to suicide when they lose face. Yet, despite the hardships faced by many here, there is still a sense of community amongst the downtrodden and even a playfulness that encourages them to spit in the eye of the bosses whenever they can. Of course, these poor souls can never win and the samurai, who see honour as an important virtue, suffer most of all. Yamanaka manages to bring several characters to life, vividly, while still situating them within the social context. A good degree of subtlety in the script would reward repeat viewing. Alas, there are no further artifacts to uncover.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/04/23
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Audience Member
One thing I found interesting about this film was its lax style relative to Orochi (1925). Orochi had a lot more influences from kabuki. One aspect of kabuki theater is the peculiar movement of characters on stage. They're typically rigid, dignified, symbolic, meaningful, and occasionally unnatural in their animation. Watching Orochi, I could see some of the heart of those movements in the protagonist and characters he interacted with. To contrast relatively, Humanity and Paper Balloons had very natural moving, relaxed characters. With respect to traditional Japanese culture and customs, the characters were realistic, and not the ideal samurai, or in the case of Orochi, the samurai down on his luck. Humanity and Paper Balloons also had several instances of upwards of 8 people on screen all sort of doing their own thing. Everyone in the shot was "equally animated." In this way, the protagonist seems more humanly, instead of an forced focus that Orochi had causing the character to seem like a kabuki star. The 12 years separating this film really showed that kabuki and cinema weren't meant to be tethered for long.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/19/23
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Audience Member
Engrossing human drama from Japan.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/27/23
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Audience Member
A film about the rhythms of life in a poor neighborhood in Japan. A quiet, graceful editing pattern and a dismal but realistic take on class interaction give this film its punch.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/20/23
Full Review
Audience Member
WEB. Impresiona por su quietud desprovista del elemento reverencial que suele poblar al cine japonés, sobre todo en materia de samuráis. También es notable su manera tan sutil de establecer contrastes entre las humanidades de sus personajes y su precisión en el ritmo. / Impressive for the quietness deprived of that reverential element that generally inhabits Japanese cinema, especially concerning samurais. Also remarkable is the subtle way in which it marks contrasts between the humanities of its characters and its very precise rhythm.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/21/23
Full Review
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