Mikio Naruse Collection 3-DVD Set ( Ukigumo / Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki / Bangiku ) ( Floating Clouds / When a Woman Ascends the Stairs / Late Chrysanthemums )

Mikio Naruse Collection 3-DVD Set (DVD) (*)

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Original Title: Ukigumo / Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki / Bangiku
Alternate Title: Floating Clouds / When a Woman Ascends the Stairs / Late Chrysanthemums
Screened, competed or awarded at:
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Subtitles )
Japanese ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )

Product Origin/Format:
United Kingdom ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
321 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
3-DVD Set
Box Set
Cast/Crew Interview(s)
Commentary
Interactive Menu
Scene Access
Trailer(s)
Booklet

Movie filmed in 1954-1960 and produced in:
Japan ( India, Eastern Asia )

Directed By:
Mikio Naruse

Written By:
Fumiko Hayashi
Yôko Mizuki
Ryuzo Kikushima
Sumie Tanaka

Actors:
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
Heihachiro Okawa ..... Isha
Nobuo Kaneko ..... Futsuin no shoin - Suitou
Roy James ..... American soldier (as Roi H. Jêmusu)
Kan Hayashi ..... Shinja
Akira Tani
Seijiro Onda
Hideko Takamine ..... Keiko Yashiro
Masayuki Mori ..... Nobuhiko Fujisaki
Reiko Dan ..... Junko Inchihashi
Tatsuya Nakadai ..... Kenichi Komatsu, the manager
Daisuke Katô ..... Matsukichi Sekine
Ganjiro Nakamura ..... Goda
Eitarô Ozawa ..... Minobe
Keiko Awaji ..... Yuri
Jun Tatara
Yu Fujiki
Masao Oda
Ken Mitsuda
Chikako Hosokawa
Sadako Sawamura
Haruko Sugimura ..... Kin
Sadako Sawamura ..... Nobu
Chikako Hosokawa ..... Tamae
Yûko Mochizuki ..... Tomi
Ken Uehara ..... Tabe
Hiroshi Koizumi ..... Kiyoshi
Ineko Arima ..... Sachiko
Bontarô Miyake ..... Seki
Sonosuke Sawamura ..... Sentaro
Daisuke Katô ..... Itaya
Haruna Kaburagi
Yoshiko Tsubouchi
Yaeko Izumo
Tsuruko Mano
Toshiko Nakano

Synopsis:

Ukigumo / Floating Clouds:
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. He meets a young Japanese typist and promises to leave his wife. He doesn't and after the war, she turns up and the affair resumes. He, who is a womaniser who takes women for granted, is cold, uses her for occasional sex and takes other lovers. She, while forced to become a mistress of a GI when she can't get a job, loves him and cannot give him up, even lending him money. In poverty, she becomes a mistress of a rich man, but gives him up when she cannot forget the forester. When the forester's wife, whom he never leaves, dies of disease, the forester takes a job far away. Despite his lack of interest, the woman, who is being pursued by the rich man whose money she stole, comes with him. Becoming ill on the journey, she continues with him, rather than rest and recuperate, obsessed by her constant fear that he will leave her. As she dies, he realises his mistake in rejecting her perfect love.

Onna ga kaidan wo agaru toki / When a Woman Ascends the Stairs:
Filmmaker Mikio Naruse takes a characteristic dour look at life in When A Woman Ascends the Stairs. The central character is a barmaid, who works day and night to avoid being thrown out into the street. She knows that, if she loses her job, the only profession open to her is the World's Oldest. But when the worst happens, the barmaid learns to live with herself while compromising her values. The film's original title was Onna Ga Kaidan O Agaru Toki.

Bangiku / Late Chrysanthemums:
This carefully rendered adaptation of three short stories by Fumiko Hayashi was lovingly directed by Mikio Naruse. Four geishas, now in retirement, look back on their lives and attempt to reconcile their relationships with men while planning their uncertain futures. Bittersweet and at times achingly funny, this was a rare (for the time) Japanese attempt to contextualize gender inequalities within traditional social constructs.

This product was added to our catalog on Thursday 16 April, 2009.

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