Floating Clouds (Ukigumo)

1955, 123 min., b&W, 16mm.

Directed by Mikio Naruse. Written by Yoko Mizuki, based on the novel by Fumiko Hayashi. With Hideoko Takamine, Masayuki Mori, Mariko Okada and Daisuke Kato. Print courtesy of The Japan Foundation with permission from Toho.

Mikio Naruse’s powerful drama of obsessive love is regarded as one of Japan’s all-time greatest films. In a relationship that begins in wartime Indochina and develops through the confusion of postwar Japan, a young woman passionately pursues a fickle married man who was once idealistic but is now disillusioned and tired of life.

See press coverage of this series on the following pages of our press room:
The Village Voice, 1/23/03
The New York Times, 1/24/03