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US Trailer for Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Hitchcockian Thriller 'Wife of a Spy'

by Alex Billington
August 31, 2021
Source: YouTube

"I called you here to tell you to be prepared." Kino Lorber has revealed an official US trailer for a Japanese thriller called Wife of a Spy, which initially premiered at the 2020 Venice Film Festival last year. The film won a Silver Lion award there for Best Director, given to prolific Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who works non-stop making films – his latest was To the Ends of the Earth before this. Kurosawa's Wife of a Spy is described as a "riveting, gorgeously crafted, old-school Hitchockian thriller shot in stunning 8K." A Japanese merchant leaves his wife behind in order to travel to Manchuria just before the start of WWII, where he witnesses an act of barbarism. His subsequent actions cause misunderstanding, jealousy and legal problems for his wife. When she finally discovers his true intentions, she is torn between loyalty to her husband, the life they have built, and the country they call home. The film stars Yû Aoi, Issey Takahashi, and Masahiro Higashide. Reviews say the film is an "unflinching gaze at the horror of a world gone mad."

Here's the official US trailer (+ poster) for Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Wife of a Spy, direct from KL's YouTube:

1940 in Kobe, on the eve of the outbreak of WWII. Local merchant and amateur filmmaker Yusaku (Issey Takahashi) senses that things are headed in an unsettling direction. After a trip to Manchuria, he becomes determined to bring to light the things he witnessed there, and secretly filmed. Meanwhile, his wife Satoko (Yû Aoi) receives a visit from her childhood friend, now a military policeman. He warns her about his seditious ways and reveals that a woman her husband had 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. Wife of a Spy, originally known as Supai no Tsuma in Japanese, is directed by the award-winning Japanese filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa, director of many, many films including Sweet Home, Cure, License to Live, Charisma, Pulse, Bright Future, Doppelganger, Retribution, Tokyo Sonata, Real, Seventh Code, Journey to the Shore, Creepy, Daguerrotype, Before We Vanish, and To the Ends of the Earth previously. The screenplay is written by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Tadashi Nohara. This first premiered at the 2020 Venice Film Festival last year. Kino Lorber will debut Wife of a Spy in select US theaters starting September 17th, 2021. For more info, head to their site.

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