Humanity and Paper Balloons by Sadao Yamanaka (Japan, 1937, 86 min.). In a poor district of Tokyo, Matajuro, a ronin (masterless samurai), spends his day looking for work. When a merchant’s daughter is kidnapped, their house becomes the holding cell and Matajuro and his wife see a lucrative opportunity, but their desperate plan has grave consequences when their ransom attempt backfires. In Japanese with English subtitles. This film compliments the course Japan: A Cultural History of the Land of the Rising Sun.