Floating Clouds

Among the ruins of Tokyo,Yukiko finds Tomioka, a lover she met on an assignment in Indochina during the War. She expects him to be divorced, but he is still living with his wife and mother-in-law.Tomioka confesses that his wife is ill and he couldn’t possibly leave her.The lovers resort to a hotel in the mountains, where Tomioka falls for the beautiful young bride of another veteran.The now pregnant Yukiko leaves him. Later Tomioka finds Yukiko and asks her for money to bury his wife.Yukiko steals a chunk of cash and convinces Tomioka to take her along on his new assignment to Southern Japan.There, amid the dense rain forests,Yukiko’s health deteriorates. As Tomioka sets off on an assignment in the forest, she dies.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.
Script: Yoko Mizuki, based on an original story by Fumiko Hayashi
Cinematography: Masao Tamai
Editing: Hidefumi Oi
Sound: Hisashi Simonaga
Music: Ichiro Saito
Actors: Hideko Takamine (Yukiko Koda), Masayuki Mori (Kenkichi Tomioka), Chieko Nakakita (Kuniko, η σύζυγός του/Kuniko, his wife), Mariko Okada (Osei), Isao Yamagata (Sugio Iba), Daisuke Kato (Seikichi Mukai)
Production: Toho International, Japan
Producers: Sanezumi Fujimoto
Sets: Satochi Chuko
Format: 35mm B&W
Production Country: Japan
Production Year: 1955
Duration: 123

Mikio Naruse

He was born in Tokyo, on August 20, 1905.As the youngest child of a poor family, his only chance at secondary education was to study engineering in technical school.At the age of fifteen, though having no vocation for cinema, he is employed by Shochicu studios as property manager. Later he is promoted to assistant director and in 1930 he gets to direct his first short, Chanbara fufu. In 1935, after 24 films mixing laughter with melodrama, made according to the studio demands, he leaves Shochiku for PCL,which soon grew into the important Toho company. He stayed there until 1967 and his 89th and last film. Master of «shomingeki», a realistic film genre about working class characters, and «the women’s film», he directed his best work – a series of low key masterpieces portraying the hardships of a joyless everyday existence, the dissolution of the family and the muted violence of emotions. He died in Tokyo, on July 2, 1969.

Filmography

Selected Filmography
1931 Koshiben ganbare / Little Man Do Your Best! 
1933 Kimi to wakarete/ Apart from You 
1933 Yogoto no yume / Every Night Dreams
1935 Otome-gokoro sannin shimai / Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts
1935 Tsuma yo bara no yo ni / Wife! Be Like a Rose!
1935 Uwasa no musume / The Girl on Everyone’s Lips 
1937 Nyonin aishu / Feminine Melancholy
1938 Tsuruhachi Tsurujiro / Tsuruhachi and Tsurujiro
1939 Hataraku ikka / The Whole Family Works
1939 Magokoro / Sincerity
1940 Tabi yakusha / Traveling Actors
1941 Hideko no shasho-san / Hideko, the Bus Conductor
1943 Uta andon / The Song Lantern
1944 Tanoshiki kana jinsei / This Happy Life
1951 Ginza gesho / Ginza Cosmetics
1951 Meshi / Repast
1952 Okaasan / Mother
1952 Inazuma / Lightning
1953 Fufu / Husband and Wife
1953 Tsuma / Wife 
1953 Ani imoto / Older Brother,Younger Sister
1954 Yama no oto / Sound of the Mountain
1954 Bangiku / Late Chrysanthemums
1955 Ukigumo / Floating Clouds
1956 Shuu / Sudden Rain
1956 Nagareru / Flowing
1958 Iwashigumo / Summer Clouds a.k.a. Herringbone Clouds
1962 Horoki / A Wanderer’s Notebook a.k.a. Her Lonely Lane 
1964 Midareru / Yearning
1967 Midaregumo / Scattered Clouds a.k.a.Two in
the Shadow / Σκόρπια σύννεφα