Mikio Naruses Floating Clouds (1955) is a postwar Japanese romantic drama of aching restraint and moral complexity. Following two lovers whose wartime affair unravels amid Japans social and emotional ruins, Naruse captures disillusionment, longing, and resignation with a quiet fatalism that defines his style. One of the defining works of Japanese realist cinema and a masterpiece of emotional precision.

During the war in French Indochina, a married Japanese man falls in love with a young typist, Yukiko, and promises to marry her after the war. Upon their return to Tokyo, their idyllic relationship crumbles, but they cannot keep away from one another. Despite finding nothing but conflict and instability, they helplessly return to each other again and again as they attempt to rebuild their lives from the ruins of World War II.

A classic of Japanese cinema described as a masterpiece by Yasujiro Ozu, Floating Clouds is a melancholy meditation on the hopeless side of love. Through the lens of Yukiko and Tomiokas tempestuous relationship, Mikio Naruses most acclaimed film quietly captures the devastation of a country in economic post-war ruin.

Från IMDB:
A tragic social drama set in post war Japan about a lonely woman trying to find purpose and stability in a devastated Tokyo.

Extras

Newly restored and presented in High Definition

Newly recorded audio commentary by writer and film critic Adrian Martin

Mikio Naruse: Auteur as Salaryman (2016, 73 mins, audio only): academic Catherine Russell, an expert in the cinema of Naruse, assesses the directors career. Recorded at BFI Southbank

Interview with Japanese film expert Freda Freiberg (2007, 10 mins)

Paul Willemen on Floating Clouds (2007, 7 mins)

Commentary on a scene (2007, 10 mins): Freda Freiberg provides a commentary on a key scene from the film

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