Master filmmaker Kiyoshi Kurosawa won the Silver Lion (Best Director) Award at the Venice Film Festival for “Wife of a Spy” — a 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) 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 (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.
“Critic’s Pick! ‘Wife of a Spy’ is something like linear narrative perfection, with every scene perfectly calibrated.” — Glenn Kenny, The New York Times
“An old-fashioned drama replete with big performances and plot twists, double-cross and triple-cross.” — The Guardian
“An absorbing, exotic, well-paced thriller.” — Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter
“One of Kurosawa's most purely enjoyable entertainments… powered by Yu Aoi’s bravura performance." — Guy Lodge, Variety
“Kiyoshi Kurosawa's best movie in years!” — David Ehrlich, Indiewire