FLOATING CLOUDS (1955)

Bust out yer handkerchiefs!  This is a sad one.

1946.  Looking to escape her brother-in-law who "violated" her, 22-year-old Yukiko (Hideko Takamine) takes a job as a typist in Indochina.  While there she falls in love with co-worker Tomioka (Masayuki Mori) who's not only married, but also a womanizing playboy as well.  Eventually he goes back to his wife in Japan and Yukiko follows.  She's brokenhearted and endlessly pines away for this guy.  As the years pass they both have relationships with other people but still end up together over and over and over again.  It's kind of fascinating in a way because while they're obviously not good for each other (and they know it) they've somehow grown this unbreakable bond that prevents them from ever being apart for too long.

This is only my second Mikio Naruse film and I thought it was fantastic.  Not only was it an engaging story but it features three of the top actors from WHEN A WOMAN ASCENDS THE STAIRS!  Hideko Takamine, Masayuki Mori and Daisuke Kato...how cool is that?!  Now I can't wait to see what other Naruse films I can locate.  Anyway, back to FLOATING CLOUDS...I really enjoyed Naruse's naturalistic style and how he kept showing the two main characters walking side-by-side.  It almost seemed like a way to show the passage of time.  Anyway, while the direction was masterful I was once again captivated by Hideko Takamine's performance.  She conveys so much with just her face and body language.  It's beautiful to watch.  Masayuki Mori ain't too shabby either.  

Highly recommended, but very depressing.

RASHOMON (1950)

Opening in a fierce rainstorm we find two men (a woodcutter and a priest) taking shelter in the dilapidated ruins of a old city gate.  A third man (a commoner) runs in from the rain and sees that both men look very troubled and deep in thought.  They tell him of a rape and murder that happened a few days ago.  This is where RASHOMON makes movie history, because instead of just telling a straightforward story it tells the same story from multiple viewpoints.

The woodcutter and the priest tell the commoner about how earlier in court (yes, these stories themselves are told secondhand) the bandit, the wife, the police agent and the victim (who's story is told via a medium!) all told their versions of the story and we, the viewer, see them played out.  Added to this the priest and the woodcutter also saw some of what happened in person and they tell the commoner.  So in all we get six different people telling the story (or a portion of the story) and for all we know they could all be incorrect!

Added to this novel approach at storytelling we get some masterful cinematography by Kazuo (UGETSU, FLOATING WEEDS) Miyagawa, great acting by an impressive cast (I was especially blown away by Machiko Kyo who I thought was fantastic!), haunting music by Fumio (UGETSU, SEVEN SAMURAI) Hayasaka, great editing (by Kurosawa himself), a legendary script by Shinobu (SEVEN SAMURAI, HARAKIRI) Hashimoto and Akira Kurosawa and the best direction by Kurosawa up to this point in his career.

I doubt that younger audiences will care for it, but anybody interested in Cinema history, especially Japanese Cinema history should check it out.  Highly recommended.