Spy Sorge Explained

is a Japanese film directed by Masahiro Shinoda in 2003, about the Soviet spy Richard Sorge.^{[1] [2]} Shinoda intended the film, a long and lavish production that had only modest critical and commercial success, as his final feature.

Plot

The film presents the life of Richard Sorge, a German spy for the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Soviet Army in Japan. Sorge and his contact Hotsumi Ozaki are arrested by the Tokubetsu Kōtō Keisatsu (Special Higher Police) in Tokyo, and Sorge recounts the main events in flashbacks.^{[3] [4]}

Cast

• Iain Glen : Richard Sorge
• Masahiro Motoki : Hotsumi Ozaki
• Kippei Shiina : Mitsusada Yoshikawa
• Takaya Kamikawa : Tokko T
• Toshiya Nagasawa : Miyagi Yotoku
• Riona Hazuki : Hanako Miyake
• Koyuki : Yoshiko Yamazaki
• Armin Marewski : Branko Vukelic
• Yui Natsukawa : Hideko Ozaki
• Takaaki Enoki : Duke Fumimaro Konoye
• Hideji Otaki : Duke Kinmochi Sai-onji
• Michael Christian : Josef Albert Meisinger
• Shima Iwashita : Mrs. Konoe
• Ulrich Mühe : Eugen Ott
• Wolfgang S. Zechmayer : Max Christiansen-Clausen
• Mia Yu : Agnes Smedley
• Hanayagi Juraku : Emperor Hirohito
• Maro Akaji : Sugiyama Hajime
• Mitsuru Fukikoshi : Saionji Kenkazu
• Shingo Tsurumi : Ushiba Tomohiko
• Dō Haraguchi : Shigeru Honjō
• Naoto Takenaka : Hideki Tojo
• Tsuruoka Daijirō : Yasuhide Kurihara
• Youichi Okamura : Taketora Ogata
• Tatsu Kaneko : Takahashi Korekiyo
• Marek Wlodarczyk : Yan Karlovich Berzin
• Jurij Rosstalnyi : Semyon Uritsky
• Robert Mika : Lavrentiy Beria
• Peter Borchert : Joseph Stalin

Technical details

• Writers: Robert Mandy & Masahiro Shinoda
• Producers : Masato Hara, Masaru Koibuchi & Peter Rawley for Asmik Ace Entertainment & Manfred Durniok Filmproduktion
• Music : Shin’ichirō Ikebe
• Photography : Tatsuo Suzuki
• Length: Japan : 182 min
• Country: Japan / Germany
• Language: Japanese
• Colour: Colour
• Sound: Dolby Digital

Honours

• Best Art Direction for Hajime Oikawa at the Awards of the Japanese Academy in 2004
• Also nominated at the same awards in the following categories:
  • Best Cinematography for Tatsuo Suzuki
  • Best Director for Masahiro Shinoda
  • Best Editing for Hiroshi Okuda
  • Best Film
  • Best Lighting for Hideshi Mikami
  • Best Music Score for Shin’ichirō Ikebe
  • Best Screenplay for Masahiro Shinoda and Robert Mandy
  • Best Sound for Tetsuo Segawa

Notes and References

1. Web site: スパイ・ゾルゲ. Agency for Cultural Affairs 映画情報システム. 2 November 2019.
2. Web site: スパイ・ゾルゲ . kotobank. 10 November 2018.
3. Web site: スパイ・ゾルゲ . 映画の時間. 10 November 2018.
4. Web site: スパイ・ゾルゲ . Kinema Junpo. 10 November 2018.