Follow and follow the cloud Mitsuko Hara once went to California, where she had a baby with a big black American. Now with her belly rounded, she returned to Japan without telling her parents anything. Her life is ruled by a cloud in the sky, followed by the wind. So Mitsuko has one answer: ask the wind. Seeing that someone is hard, Mitsuko seeks to help, completely forgetting about himself. She takes care of an elderly hostess, whose house her parents rented for a long time, helps in a diner where a young man once in love with her works, treats customers free of charge with liver and onions and assists in moving one woman to her sick mother, where, in fact, she gives birth in the field near the house. Alone and without money, Mitsuko is still optimistic about life.
Mitsuko lives a primitive naturalistic philosophy, which, however, does not repel. And we should talk about philosophy with caution, because it is, of course, not a philosophy presented in the form of a ready-made and full-fledged theory, but rather a fragmentary practice of life, and presented in the form of a semi-humorous feuilleton. The essence of Mitsuko’s philosophy is that the whole world and all the problems in it are described in two categories: clever and stupid. When a young man in love with her offers to take care of her child, she says it’s smart. When the hostess, whose parents Mitsuko rented a house, reports that she wants to die, she says that it is stupid. That's always the case for anything. When making a difficult decision, Mitsuko listens to the wind. When a decision can’t be made or something gets in his way, Mitsuko decides to go to sleep to return to the problem later. Not only does it live by this philosophy, but it forces everyone else to follow it involuntarily. Of course, Mitsuko is perceived as a very windy and a bit strange girl, but over time this impression is overcome as she demonstrates a new language in communicating with the outside world, which is always a serious psychological achievement.
Many of the film's situations are comical, but it is perhaps impossible to consider it a purely comedy because of the clear and serious message to the viewer. This message says that life can be treated a little differently than it is usually accepted. Ineradicable optimism about her and her everyday life is quite possible, as is the ease of being based on the unwillingness to rush anywhere. Mitsuko follows the cloud, and that cloud always leads her somewhere. And the difficulties that inevitably occur in its path are solved by themselves. This film is extremely life-affirming.
8 out of 10
