The love between teacher and student that created ``The Spy's Wife.'' Interview with Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, and Ichi Nohara [Director's Interview Vol.84]

Hamaguchi and Nohara's respect for director Kurosawa

Q: How was the challenge of working on “The Spy’s Wife” for Mr. Hamaguchi and Mr. Nohara?

Hamaguchi: Normally, after I write it as a scriptwriter, I hand it over to myself as a film director. At that time, I think, ``This is impossible,'' and I cut back and scale things down. It was fun because I was freed from that ``responsibility on set'' and I was thinking of borrowing the confidence that ``If it was Kurosawa-san, I would definitely be fine.''

Nohara: Up until now, most of the things I've been involved in have been contemporary dramas, but when it comes to contemporary dramas, I think, ``You can't say such strong lines.What kind of incident do I need to create in order to say these words?'' turn into. However, in this case, the event of ``war'' has already taken place, so strong words come into play.

Hamaguchi: It was a discovery that even when the emotions are so heightened, there is still reality. I would like Mr. Kurosawa to take pictures of this era again...not just this era, but things that are far removed from reality. I really want to see it.

Nohara: I also want to see various works by Kurosawa.

Q: It's starting to feel like a fan meeting... (lol)

Kurosawa: (laughs). thank you.

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Director/Screenplay: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Born July 19, 1955 in Hyogo Prefecture. He began making 8mm films in college, and made his first commercial film with ``Sweet Home'' (1988). After that, "Cure" (1997) attracted worldwide attention, followed by "Ningen Pass" (1998) and "Charisma" (1999), and "Circuit" (2000) won the 54th Cannes Film Festival. Winner of the International Federation of Critics Award. Since then, the film has received high acclaim both domestically and internationally, including ``Akarui Mirai'' (2002), an official selection in the competition section of the 56th Cannes Film Festival, and ``Shou'' (2006), an official selection in the 64th Venice International Film Festival. In addition, his work ``Tokyo Sonata'' (2008) won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the 61st Cannes Film Festival and the Best Picture Award at the 3rd Asian Film Awards. ``Atonement'' (11/WOWOW) was screened at numerous international film festivals despite being a TV drama. Other works include "Seventh Code" (2013), which won the Best Director Award at the 8th Rome Film Festival, "A Journey to the Shore" (2014), which won the Director Award at the 68th Cannes Film Festival, ``Creepy False Neighbor'' (2016), which was officially screened at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival; ``Daguerreotype Woman'' (2016), a French-Belgian-Japanese co-production shot entirely in France, and 70th Cannes Film Festival. ``The Strolling Invader'' (2016), which was officially submitted to the Un Certain Regard section of the International Film Festival, the drama ``Omen: The Strolling Invader'' (17/WOWOW), and ``The End of the Journey'', which was filmed during a one-month stay in Uzbekistan. "The Beginning of the World" (18). This film, The Spy's Wife, was selected for the first time in the competition section of the 77th Venice International Film Festival.

Screenplay: Ryusuke Hamaguchi

Born in Kanagawa Prefecture in 1978. Studied under Kiyoshi Kurosawa at Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Film and New Media, and directed his graduation film ``PASSION'' (2008), which was screened at the San Sebastian International Film Festival and Tokyo FILMeX and received high acclaim. After that, he continued to work on ``Nami no Oto'' (2012) and ``Nami no Koe Shinchicho/Kesennuma'' (2013), which were co-directed with Kou Sakai, consisting of interviews with victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake, and the feature film ``Intimacy'' that exceeds four hours. ” (12), and continues to be actively engaged in production activities. The 5-hour and 17-minute feature film ``Happy Hour'' (2015), starring four women who participated in the workshop and had no acting experience, won major awards at film festivals around the world, including Locarno, Nantes, and Singapore. She made her commercial debut with ``Sleeping or Waking'' (2018), an original work by Akutagawa Prize-winning author Yuka Shibasaki, which was selected for the competition section of the 71st Cannes Film Festival and attracted attention from around the world.

Screenplay: Ichi Nohara

Born in Tochigi Prefecture in 1983. Completed the Graduate School of Film and New Media at Tokyo University of the Arts in 2009. While attending school, while working as an assistant director for Ryusuke Hamaguchi's films, he also directed ``Kyoko,'' a part of the omnibus movie ``Rush Life'' (2009) based on the original story by Kotaro Isaka, and starring Shinobu Terashima. Also, as a graduate work, he directed the feature film ``Elephant Love'' (2009) starring Kazunari Ishida. After that, he worked as a CS broadcast program AD and CG production manager, and then moved his base to Kobe. His directorial work ``talk to remember'' (2015) was screened at the Hiroshima International Film Festival in 2015, and in 2017 he held a video workshop in Taiwan, expanding the range of his activities. ``Happy Hour'' (2015), which was written by the unit ``Hata no Koubou'' with Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Chiyu Takahashi, was screened at film festivals around the world and won many major awards.

Interview and text: SYO

Born in 1987. After The Graduate from Tokyo Gakugei University, he worked at a film magazine editorial production site and a film information site before becoming a film writer/editor. Works on a wide range of topics including interviews, reviews, columns, event appearances, and recommendation comments. Contributed to ``CINEMORE'', ``Cinema Cafe'', ``Soen'', ``FRIDAY Digital'', ``CREA'', ``BRUTUS'', etc. Twitter「 syocinema 」

“The Spy’s Wife <Movie Version>”

Nationwide roadshow from October 16, 2020 (Friday)

Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Screenplay: Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Ichi Nohara, Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Music: Ryosuke Nagaoka

Cast: Yu Aoi, Issei Takahashi, Masahiro Higashide, Ryota Bando, Yuri Tsunematsu, Takashi Sasano

Distribution: Bitters End

Distribution cooperation: “The Spy’s Wife” Promotion Partners

(c)2020 NHK, NEP, Incline, C&I