Three of Mikio Naruse's finest films, now widely regarded as among world cinema's greatest achievements. 'When a Woman Ascends the Stairs' (1960) is a heartbreaking tale of a middle-aged bar hostess's (Hideko Takamine) attempt to escape her existence set to a soundtrack of tinkling cocktail jazz and filmed in black and white Cinemascope. In 'Floating Clouds' (1955), based on the novel by Fumiko Hayashi, the elegance and indisputable hard punch of Naruses's storytelling become immediately clear the moment the lovers kiss and the director cuts, mid-clinch, to an almost identical shot of them kissing in the past. This film is based on flashbacks, which tell a story of forbidden love between a forester (Masayuki Mori) and a typist (Takamine) during and after WWII. In 'Late Chrysanthemums' (1958), again based on works by Hayashi, Kin (Haruko Sugimura) is a retired geisha who has become a coldly efficient moneylender. Even her old colleagues are indebted to her. Then an old lover she remembers fondly shows up asking for money...
