Floating Clouds Mikio Naruse/ 1955/ 2hrs 3 mins/ subtitles/ 12A
Cutting between sentimental memories and brutal reality Floating Clouds follows Yukiko Koda, a woman who has just returned to Japan from French Indochina. Yukiko seeks out Kengo, with whom she had an affair in Da Lat during the war. Naruse shows people are prone to make mistakes but never condemns them.
The BFI's Too Much: Melodrama on Film project is possible with support of the BFI Film Audience Network, awarding funds from the National Lottery to bring this project to more audiences across the UK
Heightened emotions, sideways glances and strong shadows, drive the emotional and expressive weight in these Japanese melodramas
Conflicts between the modern and traditional where displays of respect and decency are expected. These films capture where dress codes shift, and women’s values and freedom are challenged.
Other screenings as part of this special programme:
“Naruse slowly distances us from his lovers and their actions so that the film’s climactic progression of events hits us all the more fiercely”