Wakare-gumo

Five college friends are on a walking tour of a little town in the mountains, when one of them, Keiko Sawamura, falls ill. They bring her to the local inn, a pleasantly shabby place, and the local doctor comes to take a look; her illness was brought on by overwork, so she must rest a few days. Her friends return to Tokyo, but her stay grows more extended, as she grows into the rhythms of the poor village, where ill people see their shaman, rather than the one doctor for 5,000 people. Nonetheless, they are good-hearted, and she quietly comes to understand who she is, and what she needs to change about herself.

Heinosuke Gosho's movie can be considered on its own terms, or as exploring some of the issues that he would revisit in AN INN AT OSAKA. While I do not wish to imply that this auteur would revisit this theme until he got it right, certain stories, settings, themes and types of characters interest a director, and clearly this was the sort of movie that interested Gosho at this time. There are more conventionalities here; Miss Sawamura clearly has a crush on the handsome young doctor, but it doesn't interfere with a simple story, nor the beautiful camerawork of Mitsuo Miura.

"Wakare-gumo" (Dispersed Clouds, 1951) was Gosho's first film for his independent company Studio Eight. In a very clear manner, the film reflects the ideals of the American occupation censors, and there are pros and cons in Gosho's maneuvering. The occupation forces wanted the Japanese to make movies, where societal conditions return to normal, wartime wounds are patched, people are highlighted as individuals, and all ideology and nationalist boasting would be left out. For a film like "Dispersed Clouds" you could probably have gotten an award.

Still, Gosho's film is a nice watch. The director had been known for his humanism already in the 1930's, so you can view his post-war films not as obvious attempts at pleasing the censors, but a continuation of his well-known style. This film is about five young women, all studying at a university, who arrive in a small rural community to do sight-seeing. They are originally just there to change trains, but as one of the girls Masako (Sawamura Keiko) suddenly gets sick, the others leave as she stays in the local motel. The inn-keeper attempts to bond with Masako, and gradually we learn her backstory.

There is tragedy in Masako's past, but slowly she realizes that this is the same with everyone, and yet all these people around her carry on with their lives and keep a positive attitude. This is the message of the film, and sometimes the lines that highlight this are a bit comedic. (The last lines especially are over the top). There is a possible romance with a handsome doctor, but this film is at its best as a depiction of a small, high-spirited community. Gosho manages to paint a welcoming portrait of this distant place, and the depiction of the locations is very nice.

Gosho is one of my favorite Japanese directors. "Dispersed clouds" is a minor work in his catalog, but a nicely made one nevertheless.