Mikio Naruse’s Floating Clouds Getting BFI Blu-Ray Release
Fans of classic Japanese cinema should take note of one of the BFI‘s upcoming re-releases, Mikio Naruse‘s Floating Clouds getting a Blu-ray release in July.
The film has was once described as a ‘masterpiece’ by Yasujirō Ozu. It is a melancholy meditation on the hopeless side of love. Through the lens of Yukiko and Tomioka’s tempestuous relationship, Mikio Naruse’s most acclaimed film quietly captures the devastation of a country in economic post-war ruin.
Now newly restored, it is released on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK, by the BFI. The release will come with special features including a newly recorded audio commentary by Adrian Martin and a lengthy audio assessment of the director’s career by academic Catherine Russell.
In French Indochina during the Second World War, a married Japanese man falls in love with a young typist, Yukiko, and promises to marry her when the war is over. Upon their return to Tokyo, however, their idyllic relationship crumbles – yet they cannot keep away from one another. Despite finding nothing but conflict and instability, they helplessly return to each other repeatedly as they attempt to rebuild their lives amid the ruins.
Special features
- 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): academic Catherine Russell, an expert in the cinema of Naruse, assesses the director’s career. Recorded at BFI Southbank
- Freda Freiberg on Floating Clouds (2007, 10 mins)
- Paul Willemen on Floating Clouds (2007, 7 mins)
- Floating Clouds selected scenes commentary (2007, 10 mins): cinema historian Freda Freiberg examines a key sequence from Floating Clouds
- ***First pressing only*** Illustrated booklet with a new writing on the film by Catherine Russell, previously published essays by Adrian Martin and Freda Freiberg, notes on the special features and credits.
Product details
Japan / 1955 / black and white / 124 mins / Japanese language with optional English subtitles / original aspect ratio 1.37:1 // BD50: 1080p, 24fps, LPCM 2.0 mono audio (48kHz/24-bit)
The BFI will release Mikio Naruse’s Floating Clouds on Blu-ray 1st July.
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