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Scattered Clouds aka Two in the Shadow (乱れ雲, Midaregumo) is a 1967 Japanese drama film directed by Mikio Naruse starring Yōko Tsukasa and Yūzō Kayama. It was Naruse's final film after a long lasting career which started in 1930.

Plot

Shortly before Yumiko's and her husband Hiroshi's (an employee of the Ministry of Economy) departure for the United States, he is killed in a car accident. The car's driver, Shiro, although acquitted in the following hearing, feels guilty and offers Yumiko to pay a monthly instalment. Yumiko first rejects, but when her husband's family disowns her, leaving her without an inheritance, she finally accepts the money. Due to her precarious financial situation, she decides to return to her hometown and work in the inn run by her sister near Lake Towada. By coincidence, Shiro is reassigned by his employers to the same area. Although Yumiko and Shiro slowly develop a mutual affection, finally leading to a love affair, Yumiko can't leave her past behind, which returns with all its power when she witnesses an accident that reminds her of Hiroshi's death. In the end, Shiro is transferred again, to a far away office in Lahore, Pakistan.

Cast

• Yōko Tsukasa as Yumiko
• Yūzō Kayama as Shiro Mishima
• Mitsuko Kusabue as Ayako, Yumiko's sister
• Mitsuko Mori as Katsuko, Yumiko's sister-in-law
• Mie Hama as Teruko
• Daisuke Katō as Hayashida
• Yoshio Tsuchiya as Hiroshi, Yumiko's husband
• Yū Fujiki as Ishikawa, Ayako's husband
• Tadao Nakamaru as Fujiwara
• Kumeko Urabe as Nui, Shiro's mother

Legacy

Scattered Clouds was presented at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in 1981 and at the Museum of Modern Art in 1985 and 1987, the second time with an introduction by historian Donald Richie. In 2015, it was shown at the 39th Hong Kong International Film Festival as part of a retrospective on the director.

References

1. ^ "Scattered Clouds at the Japanese Movie Database" (in Japanese). Retrieved 23 January 2021.
2. Galbraith IV, Stuart (2008). The Toho Studios Story: A History and Complete Filmography. Lanham, Toronto, Plymouth: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-6004-9.
3. Russell, Catherine (2011). Classical Japanese Cinema Revisited. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-0-8108-6004-9.
4. "Scattered Clouds (Two in the Shadows) (Midaregumo)". BAMPFA. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
5. "Mikio Naruse: A Master of the Japanese Cinema Opens at MoMA September 23" (PDF). Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
6. "New York Magazine Movies Theater Guide". New York Magazine. 13 April 1987. p. 110. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
7. Marsh, James (11 February 2015). "Hong Kong International Film Festival To Honour Naruse Mikio On 60th Anniversary Of FLOATING CLOUDS". screenanarchy.com. Retrieved 23 January 2021.

Bibliography

• Russell, Catherine (2008). The Cinema of Naruse Mikio: Women and Japanese Modernity. Durham and London: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-4290-8.

External links

• Scattered Clouds at IMDb
• Uhlich, Keith (31 December 2005). "Scattered Clouds review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 23 January 2021.

• 1967 films
• 1967 drama films
• 1960s Japanese-language films
• Japanese drama films
• Films directed by Mikio Naruse
• Toho films
• 1960s Japanese films