Floating Clouds (1955)
"Ukigumo" (original title)

This film is based on flashbacks, which I'll ignore here for the sake of clarity. Married Japanese forester during WWII is sent to Indochina to manage forests... See full synopsis »

Director:

Mikio Naruse

Writers:

Fumiko Hayashi (novel), Yôko Mizuki (adaptation)

Stars:

Hideko Takamine, Masayuki Mori, Mariko Okada

9 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hideko Takamine	...	Yukiko Koda
Masayuki Mori	...	Kengo Tomioka
Mariko Okada	...	Sei Mukai
Isao Yamagata	...	Sugio Iba
Chieko Nakakita	...	Kuniko Tomioka
Daisuke Katô	...	Seikichi Mukai
Mayuri Mokusho	...	Nomiya no musume
Noriko Sengoku	...	Yakushima no okaasan
Fuyuki Murakami	...	Futsuin no shikensho-chou
Heihachirô Ôkawa	...	Isha
Nobuo Kaneko	...	Futsuin no shoin - Suitou
Roy James	...	American soldier (as Roi H. Jêmusu)
Kan Hayashi
Akira Tani	...	Shinja
Seijirô Onda

Storyline

This film is based on flashbacks, which I'll ignore here for the sake of clarity. Married Japanese forester during WWII is sent to Indochina to manage forests... See full synopsis »

---

Plot Keywords:

one word title | forbidden love | bathing | based on novel

---

Genres:

Drama | Romance

---

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

6 June 1980 (USA)

Also Known As:

Floating Clouds

Filming Locations:

Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toho Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

123 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Third in the centenary poll by Kinema-Junpo magazine about all-time best Japanese films, Seven Samurai and Tokyo Story preceded it.

---

Connections

References Going My Way (1944)

User Reviews

Obsessive love

"Ukigumo" covers a considerable span of time and numerous locations. It tells the story of a young woman (Hideko Takamine) who served in Japan's forest service in Indochina during WW2, and fell in love with a (married) co-worker (Masayuki Mori) while there. After the war, she returns to Japan, completely impoverished, and finds her lover (more or less) comfortably re-established in his family and uninterested in fulfilling the idle promises he made during the war. While Mori is only willing to dally half-heartedly with her (as well as younger prettier women), Takamine remains obsessed with him. Takamine and Mori do a fine job. I found the story effective enough, albeit a bit overly melodramatic. Not my favorite Naruse film, but very much worth seeing.