| The Balloon | |
| Director: | Yūzō Kawashima |
| Producer: | Takeshi Yamamoto |
| Music: | Toshirō Mayuzumi |
| Cinematography: | Kuratarō Takamura |
| Editing: | Tadashi Nakamura |
| Studio: | Nikkatsu |
| Distributor: | Nikkatsu |
| Released: | (Japan) |
| Runtime: | 110 minutes |
| Country: | Japan |
is a 1956 Japanese drama film directed by Yūzō Kawashima. It was adapted by Kawashima and Shōhei Imamura from a novel by Jirō Osaragi.[1]
In post-war Japan, a middle aged family man connects with a woman from his past. He has two children, an arrogant son who is torn between his mistress and a new lover, and a disabled daughter who gets mixed up in the affair.
In 2018, celebrating director Kawashima's 100th birthday, the Nikkatsu studio and VOD platform MUBI collaborated on a retrospective of his work to be available to stream in the US. The Balloon was among the films that were screened.[2]