WIFE OF A SPY
2020 - 115 MINUTES - JAPAN - IN JAPANESE WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES
A FILM BY KIYOSHI KUROSAWA
FEATURING YÛ AOI, MASAHIRO HIGASHIDE, ISSEY TAKAHASHI
Master filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Pulse, Cure, Tokyo Sonata) won the Silver Lion (Best Director) at the Venice Film Festival for this riveting, gorgeously crafted, old-school Hitchockian thriller shot in stunning 8K. The year is 1940 in Kobe, on the eve of the outbreak of World War II. Local merchant and amateur filmmaker Yusaku (Issey Takahashi, Kill Bill) senses that things are headed in an unsettling direction. Following a trip to Manchuria, he becomes determined to bring to light the things he witnessed there, and secretly filmed. Meanwhile, his wife Satoko (Japan Society’s 2021 Honoree Yû Aoi) receives a visit from her childhood friend, now a military policeman. He warns her about Yusaku’s seditious ways and reveals that a woman her husband brought back from his trip has died. Satoko confronts Yusaku, but when she discovers his true intentions, she is torn between loyalty to her husband, the life they have built, and the country they call home.
“Kurosawa hits high marks by staring a story straight in the eyes, and finessing every narrative bump to deliver the smoothest, most satisfying historical drama you’re likely to see this fall. The story is captivating, the characters are magnificently fleshed out, and the emotional stakes are entirely, utterly believable.” - Globe and Mail
“a sobering and timely reminder of those few stumbling steps between the comfortably ordinary and social catastrophe” - Original CIN
“(a) suspenseful Hitchcockian-styled thriller” - Afro Toronto
“visually beautiful and sensual, and dangerous” - What She Said
“(a) slow burn spy game” - That' Shelf
“Wife of a Spy examines how war changes people; for some, it is a call to action, while others look away, and others use it as a chance to act brutally without consequence.” - Nikkei Voice