SPY NO TSUMA / WIFE OF A SPY

The year is 1940 in Kobe, the night before the outbreak of World War II. Local merchant, Yusaku, senses that things are headed in an unsettling direction. He leaves his wife Satoko behind and travels to Manchuria. There, he coincidentally witnesses a barbarous act and is determined to bring it to light. Meanwhile, Satoko is called on by her childhood friend and military policeman, Taiji. He tells her that a woman her husband brought back from Manchuria has died. Satoko is torn by jealousy and confronts Yusaku. But when she discovers Yusaku’s true intentions, she does the unthinkable to ensure his safety and their happiness.

KIJOŠI KUROSAVA / KIYOSHI KUROSAWA

Kiyoshi Kurosawa (1955) is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, film critic and a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts. He is best known for his many contributions to the Japanese horror genre. Kurosawa studied film at Rikkyo University. Kurosawa first achieved international acclaim with his crime thriller film Cure (1997). Moreover, the film garnered a great deal of critical buzz on the festival circuit, including Toronto, Rotterdam, and San Francisco. License to Live (1998) which he wrote with the help of a Sundance Institute Scholarship, was screened at the Berlin Film Festival, while Charisma (1999) was screened at Cannes. In 2001 Kurosawa crafted Pulse that many considered to the one of the best horror films of the decade. With his 2008 film, Tokyo Sonata, Kurosawa was considered to step out of his usual horror genre and into family drama. In 2015 he made a romantic drama film Journey to the Shore. Both films brought him the awards at the Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regard). In 2016, his thriller Creepy premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival. The film marked Kurosawa's first cinematic return to the horror genre since 2006.

 

Kiyoshi Kurosawa pays tribute to the master of suspense Hitchcock in elegant pre-War drama set in Kobe.

Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily