A Beloved Wife 喜劇 愛妻物語

©2020"A Beloved Wife" Production Committee
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PRODUCTION NOTES

The latest movie by Shin Adachi (Screenwriter of 100 Yen Love) from his original novel
After the movie 100 Yen Love swept awards season in 2014, including the Japan Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Screenplay, writer Shin Adachi set to work on a new original novel lightly based on his own life experiences, and then took on the role as both director and screenwriter for the feature length adaptation. The cast includes talented and nationally-beloved actor, Gaku Hamada, for whom Kotaro Isaka wrote the lead role in Golden Slumber (’10). His co-star is Asami Mizukawa who has established herself as a premier actress through such films as Black Widow Business (’16) and Higanjima (’10). Guaranteed to elicit reams of tears and laughter, this is a conjugal relations story rich in texture and human emotion.

STORY

A struggling screenwriter and his dysfunctional family on an ill-advised “working” vacation
An unpopular screenwriter, Gota, and his wife, Chika, have been married for ten years with a daughter between them. Gota earns a paltry $5,000 a year and is a pathetically poor family breadwinner. As such, he is constantly being berated and belittled by Chika. He yearns to restore a normal sex with his wife, but she rebuffs him and forces him to suffer in frustrated silence. And then a big opportunity arrives to turn things around. One of the plots he has been developing based on an actual news story gets noticed, and a request comes in for him to parlay it into a screenplay. But with no guarantee that anything will come of it, Gota hasn’t the funds nor a driver’s license to get him to locations requiring story research and development. So he persuades Chika to drive the family out into the countryside on ostensibly a working vacation for three. A hapless husband and father with reams of unsatisfied sexual desire but no money or work, and a heavily-drinking wife who makes sport in disparaging him. You may wince; you may recoil, but above all, you’ll laugh and cry in spite of yourself as you probe the invisible bonds that keep a desperately married couple together in this endearing family comedy.

■ 32nd Tokyo International Film Festival (2019)
 - Best Screenplay Award
■ 22nd Udine Far East Film Festival (2020)
■ 23rd Shanghai International Film Festival (2020)
 - International Panorama, SIFF HIGHLIGHTS - VIVA LA FESTIVAL
■ New York Asian Film Festival 2020
■ 40th Hawaii International Film Festival (2020)
 - Spotlight on Japan, Asian Showcase
■ 12th TAMA Film Awards (2020)
 - Best Actor Award
 - Best Actress Award
■ The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme (2021)

Starring
Gaku Hamada (濱田岳), Asami Mizukawa (水川あさみ), Chise Niitsu (新津ちせ)
Written and Directed
Shin Adachi (足立紳) / “100 YEN LOVE” (’14)
Japan release
September 11, 2020
Duration
117 min.
Genre
Comedy, Drama
Technical Specs
Color / 1:1.85 / Digital / 5.1ch
OFFICIAL SITE:http://kigeki-aisai.jp/
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