In Plain Sight

Naruse - Episode 8 - Floating Clouds + A Wanderer's Notebook

On today’s episode we discuss Floating Clouds (1955) and A Wanderer’s Notebook (1962) - also known as Her Lonely Lane. Floating Clouds features another doomed romance, this time set against the ruins of the post-World War II Japanese society. The film is one of Naruse’s most widely seen films, and for good reason. It’s a great film with two towering performances from Hideko Takamine and Masayuki Mori. We then go on to discuss A Wanderer’s Notebook, an adaptation of a stage play based on the autobiography of Fumiko Hayashi, a poet and novelist who wrote the novel that Floating Clouds is based on. Naruse adapted four other Hayashi works prior to Floating Clouds. A Wanderer’s Notebook traces Hayashi’s life from her beginnings trying desperately to find employment in a cutthroat and often chauvinistic environment, to her time in interacting with literary figures of her time and getting her work published.  Discussion of Floating Clouds opens the podcast and discussion of A Wanderer’s Notebook starts at (42:22). Our previous episodes on Naruse’s films were released in conjunction with the retrospective in New York that Japan Society and Metrograph hosted – “Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us.” Two venues are hosting Naruse retrospective starting in July. The Harvard Film Archive is starting their Naruse retrospective on July 5 with a screening of Floating Clouds, which also screens there on July 6. The Berkeley Art Museum Pacific Film Archive just started their retrospective in July. You can find links to the schedules for both retrospective below. Floating Clouds is available to watch on Criterion Channel.  - Harvard Film Archive’s Mikio Naruse retrospective schedule https://harvardfilmarchive.org/programs/floating-clouds-the-cinema-of-naruse-mikio - Berkeley’s Mikio Naruse retrospective at BAMPFA - https://bampfa.org/program/mikio-naruse-auteur-salaryman - A Mikio Naruse Companion by Dan Sallitt - https://mikionaruse.wordpress.com/ [https://mikionaruse.wordpress.com/]  - “Caught: Mikio Naruse” by Chris Fujiwara - https://www.filmcomment.com/article/caught-mikio-naruse/ - Mikio Naruse: A Master of Japanese Cinema by Audie Bock - https://www.worldcat.org/title/17227763  Hosted by Aret Frost and Tony Huang (@Tghuang) Consultant: Ryan Swen (@swen_ryan) Substack with weekly film writing - inplainsightcinema.substack.com Twitter: @IPS_Pod Instagram: @ipsfilm Bluesky: @ipsfilm.bsky.social Email: ipsfilmpodcast@gmail.com

Naruse - Episode 7 - Summer Clouds + Scattered Clouds

On today’s episode we discuss Summer Clouds (1958) and Scattered Clouds (1967). Summer Clouds centers on a family of farmers dealing with the complications wrought by both legal and social changes. Scattered Clouds is Naruse’s final film and it chronicles a doomed romance of two well-intentioned people who share an unspeakable tragedy. We are presenting this discussion to you in conjunction with the screenings of these films that are set to take place in New York at Metrograph on June 28 and 29. With regard to home viewing, Scattered Clouds is available on Criterion Channel.  Discussion of Summer Clouds starts at (2:06) and discussion of Scattered Clouds starts at (42:37) Our latest episodes on Naruse’s films are being released in conjunction with the retrospective in New York that Japan Society and Metrograph are hosting – “Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us.” The retrospective is also set to travel to Berkeley, where BAMPFA will be hosting the series from July 3 to December 21, 2025. We include the links to the retrospective schedules below: - New York’s Mikio Naruse retrospective - Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us              - Metrograph Schedule - https://metrograph.com/category/mikio-naruse/ [https://metrograph.com/category/mikio-naruse/] - Berkeley’s Mikio Naruse retrospective at BAMPFA - https://bampfa.org/program/mikio-naruse-auteur-salaryman - A Mikio Naruse Companion by Dan Sallitt - https://mikionaruse.wordpress.com/ [https://mikionaruse.wordpress.com/]  - “Caught: Mikio Naruse” by Chris Fujiwara - https://www.filmcomment.com/article/caught-mikio-naruse/ - Mikio Naruse: A Master of Japanese Cinema by Audie Bock - https://www.worldcat.org/title/17227763  Hosted by Aret Frost and Tony Huang (@Tghuang) Consultant: Ryan Swen (@swen_ryan) Substack with weekly film writing - inplainsightcinema.substack.com Twitter: @IPS_Pod Instagram: @ipsfilm Bluesky: @ipsfilm.bsky.social Email: ipsfilmpodcast@gmail.com

Naruse - Episode 6 - Flowing + Late Chrysanthemums

On today’s episode we discuss Flowing (1956) and Late Chrysanthemums (1954). Both films depict the lives of current and former Geishas as their way of life becomes threatened by cultural and economic forces. This episode was initially recorded in February 2023 and we are presenting it to you in light of the screenings that are set to take place in New York and Berkeley. Both films are available on Criterion Channel. Our latest episodes on Naruse’s films are being released in conjunction with the retrospective in New York that Japan Society and Metrograph are hosting – “Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us.”  The retrospective is also set to travel to Berkeley, where BAMPFA will be hosting the series from July 3 to December 21, 2025. We include the links to the retrospective schedules below: - New York’s Mikio Naruse retrospective - Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us              - Metrograph Schedule - https://metrograph.com/category/mikio-naruse/ [https://metrograph.com/category/mikio-naruse/] - Berkeley’s Mikio Naruse retrospective at BAMPFA - https://bampfa.org/program/mikio-naruse-auteur-salaryman - A Mikio Naruse Companion by Dan Sallitt - https://mikionaruse.wordpress.com/ [https://mikionaruse.wordpress.com/]  - Mikio Naruse: A Master of Japanese Cinema by Audie Bock - https://www.worldcat.org/title/17227763  - Japanese Film Directors by Audie Bock - https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-film-directors-Audie-Bock/dp/0870113046 [https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-film-directors-Audie-Bock/dp/0870113046] Hosted by Aret Frost (@armoscientist) and Tony Huang (@Tghuang) Consultant: Ryan Swen (@swen_ryan) Substack with weekly film writing - inplainsightcinema.substack.com Twitter: @IPS_Pod Instagram: @ipsfilm Bluesky: @ipsfilm.bsky.social Email: ipsfilmpodcast@gmail.com

Naruse - Episode 5 - Lightning

On today’s episode we discuss one of Mikio Naruse’s greatest films, Lightning (1952). Naruse paints a despairing portrait of a dysfunctional family dynamic whose sourness does not preclude the possibility of transcendent experience. This episode was initially recorded in October 2022 and we are presenting it to you in light of its recent screening in New York. Lightning is not one of the Naruse films on Criterion Channel, but it is available via the Internet Archive. You can find a link to the full film below.  Our latest episodes on Naruse’s films are being released in conjunction with the retrospective in New York that Japan Society and Metrograph are hosting – “Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us.”  The retrospective is also set to travel to Berkeley. BAMPFA will be hosting from July 3 to December 21, 2025. We include the links to the retrospective schedules below: - Link to full film - Lightning (Japanese Title: Inazuma) - https://archive.org/details/inazuma_202104 - New York’s Mikio Naruse retrospective - Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us              - Metrograph Schedule - https://metrograph.com/category/mikio-naruse/ [https://metrograph.com/category/mikio-naruse/] - Berkeley’s Mikio Naruse retrospective at BAMPFA - https://bampfa.org/program/mikio-naruse-auteur-salaryman - A Mikio Naruse Companion by Dan Sallitt - https://mikionaruse.wordpress.com/ [https://mikionaruse.wordpress.com/]  - Mikio Naruse: A Master of Japanese Cinema by Audie Bock - https://www.worldcat.org/title/17227763  - Japanese Film Directors by Audie Bock - https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-film-directors-Audie-Bock/dp/0870113046 [https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-film-directors-Audie-Bock/dp/0870113046] Hosted by Aret Frost and Tony Huang (@Tghuang) Consultant: Ryan Swen (@swen_ryan) Substack with weekly film writing - inplainsightcinema.substack.com Twitter: @IPS_Pod Instagram: @ipsfilm Bluesky: @ipsfilm.bsky.social Email: ipsfilmpodcast@gmail.com

Naruse - Episode 4 - Three Sisters With Maiden Hearts and Wife! Be Like a Rose!

On today’s episode, we discuss two Mikio Naruse films from 1935 – Three Sisters with Maiden Hearts and Wife! Be Like a Rose! We discuss the visual style of Naruse’s early sound era and how he developed his approach to narrative structure.  Our latest episodes on Naruse’s films are in conjunction with the retrospective in New York that Japan Society and Metrograph are hosting – “Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us.”  The retrospective is also set to travel to Berkeley. BAMPFA will be hosting from July 3 to December 21, 2025. We include the links to the retrospective schedules below: - New York’s Mikio Naruse retrospective - Mikio Naruse: The World Betrays Us - Japan Society - https://japansociety.org/film/mikio-naruse-the-world-betrays-us/ - Metrograph - https://metrograph.com/category/mikio-naruse/ - Berkeley’s Mikio Naruse retrospective at BAMPFA - https://bampfa.org/program/mikio-naruse-auteur-salaryman - A Mikio Naruse Companion by Dan Sallitt - https://mikionaruse.wordpress.com/ [https://mikionaruse.wordpress.com/] - Mikio Naruse: A Master of Japanese Cinema by Audie Bock - https://www.worldcat.org/title/17227763 - Japanese Film Directors by Audie Bock - https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-film-directors-Audie-Bock/dp/0870113046 [https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-film-directors-Audie-Bock/dp/0870113046] - Hosted by Aret Frost (@armoscientist) and Tony Huang (@Tghuang) - Ryan Swen (@swen_ryan): Consultant - Substack with weekly film writing - inplainsightcinema.substack.com - Twitter: @IPS_Pod - Instagram: @ipsfilm - Bluesky: @ipsfilm.bsky.social - Email: ipsfilmpodcast@gmail.com