There might be more locations added later. And if you have any independent/art-house movie theatres near where you are, it might be worth letting them know that this is out and that there are people nearby who are interested in seeing it. I expect it will also be available for home viewing in the region, soon, too.
I don't know about the rest of the world. It was available in the UK in last year's online London Korean Film Festival, but only for a short time and I missed it.
The only Western countries that I've seen it has national releases in so far are the USA and Canada and Italy. For everywhere else it's a case of seeing it at a festival (in a cinema or online), or waiting and searching every now and then to see if it's been licensed for release. https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=280801.html will have the name of the distributor for French-speaking Europe, if it ever gets licensed by one.
There don't appear to be any disc releases anywhere in the world yet. But when those start to be released, maybe the Taiwanese discs and at least the Northern American ones will have English subtitles.
In most other countries, it's still only playing in festivals, so they're likely to be the only way of seeing it. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11697820/releaseinfo lists lots of festivals it has already played it, but it doesn't currently have anything about any upcoming ones.
I don't think it's even out on disc in Taiwan yet. Though, when it is, it's possible that the Blu-ray Disc and DVD of it there might have English subtitles. We'll have to wait and see. If it's released on disc in Northern America, after the virtual theatre release there, those discs will definitely have English subtitles.
This is a 2+ hour movie with little dialogue about a middle-aged gay man. It's not really a hot property. It's a slow movie which is not likely to have national releases in many countries, and it can still take a few years after their premiere for such movies to reach being released, even in the countries in which they do eventually have a release.
Tucker Film have now released both this and Hamaguchi's other 2021 movie, "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy", in Italy:https://www.mymovies.it/film/2021/wheel-of-fortune-and-fantasy/https://www.mymovies.it/film/2021/drive-my-car/You…
Ah, so you know about Far East Film in Udine and Tucker Film (I only know of them from Far East Film being online worldwide the last two times). I've found that a lot of other people posting on this site don't notice when movies they're interested in or that star cast they like get released or are available in festivals in their country.
You might still be able to see it in a virtual theatre even if you don't live near to the actual theatre. And it looks like it's also out in the US (or will be soon) on Kino Now, to buy or rent online generally, and on Blu-ray Disc and DVD with a making of: https://www.kinolorber.com/product/wife-of-a-spy-blu-ray
I'd also suggest (if you haven't already) joining the mailing list and/or following the SNS accounts of the theatre that played it so that you don't miss out on other East Asian movies showing there, and following the SNS accounts of some or all of the below (it depends what covers the kind of titles you're most interested in) to be in the know about Japanese movies getting released in the US or playing in online festivals accessible from there.
In particular, co-writer Hamaguchi has one of his own movies currently out in the US ("Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy", from Film Movement) and another coming next week ("Drive My Car"). "Gift of Fire", "Labyrinth of Cinema" and "They Say Nothing Stays the Same" are also making their way across the indie cinemas of the States.
"Wife of a Spy" is released by Kino Lorber, not any of the distributors I linked to above, though it's quite rare that they release East Asian movies, so they might not be worth following so much if you're specifically interested in those (though the ones they do release are quite big-name ones).
This is the first cinema release in the UK beyond London of a Korean dramatic movie not directed by Bong Joon-ho since "Burning" in February 2019, near three years ago! So please try to support it if you can and would like to see more South Korean and other East Asian live-action released in cinemas here, and not only online and on disc.
Hamaguchi's two 2021 movies, "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy" and "Drive My Car", are both currently getting cinema releases in many countries, thanks to their wins at Berlin and Cannes respectively. His last two features, "Happy Hour" and "Asako I & II", are relatively easily available online and on disc around the world. But retrospective seasons, in cinemas or online for a limited time, appear to be the only way of catching the others with English subtitles, as far as I've been able to find out so far.
I've stopped looking at ratings on this site long back.
I think winning Best Director at Venice, and getting five nominations and winning for Best Film, Actress and Costume Design at the Asian Film Awards are better indications of whether I'd like something than what its rating on MDL or IMDb is.
If it's not offered in cinemas near enough to you, you can let them know that you'd like them to play it by email or a message to one of their SNS accounts. If none end up playing it despite that, there's still virtual theatres, which are available nationwide.
It's been out in cinemas with English subtitles in Canada since 22 October, distributed by Films We Like, and is still playing in some locations and still to come to others: http://www.filmswelike.com/films/wife-of-a-spy
If you can't find it near enough to you, I'd suggest letting the cinemas near you know that you're interested in it (whether by email, SNS message or in person).
Seeing it in a cinema (a real one or a virtual cinema – which https://kinomarquee.com/film/venue/611abb6dc2b2700001bb89e0 links to some of – if you can't get to a real one) will support the makers of the film and the subtitles to continue making movies and dramas you like and to subtitle them in English, and it will support the distributor and cinema to bring them to you. Dramacool dosen't do any of that; the makers and distributors of the movie won't even know that you've watched it on that, as it doesn't count towards official viewing figures.
Please support it if you can, because this is first UK cinema release of a new Japanese live-action movie in 22 months, and seeing this and "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy" in cinemas are our only foreseeable chances to encourage distributors to release more Japanese live-action in cinemas instead of only on home video.
do you know where i can watch it rn online? it seems you can no longer stream online on that website... at least…
World of Film only streamed it at that one particular time.
Japan Film Festival Los Angeles definitely made it available worldwide and for several days around the same time, from 4–10 October (though I don't think for the flexible pricing that World of Film had): https://watch.eventive.org/jffla/play/613e7c6129513200c8872658
But I only found out about that festival after it was over (from a post on the Facebook Page of another Japanese film fest based somewhere else in the US; I can't remember which, as there are a lot of them, and previously they only played movies in their own cites but now they're all available online throughout at least the US, and sometimes internationally).
It's been in a lot of festivals, both online and in cinemas. I know more recently it had an in-cinema screening in Sci-Fi-London on 24 October, for example, with the writer and director visiting.
So your best chance of seeing it any time soon is to find out about film festivals happening soon: those that will be in cinemas in your vicinity, those that are based somewhere in the same country as you and that are available online, and those that are based in other countries but specialise in a relevant subject like Japanese cinema, sci-fi, female creators, etc. – as that kind I've found are more often available internationally than general film festivals without a particular theme.
The same applies to most recent movies not yet licensed for where one is. Though this one actually has a relatively good chance of being found in festivals, compared to most.
https://crescendo.house/pages/labyrinth-of-cinema
https://www.elevenarts.net/live-action/gift-of-fire
There might be more locations added later. And if you have any independent/art-house movie theatres near where you are, it might be worth letting them know that this is out and that there are people nearby who are interested in seeing it. I expect it will also be available for home viewing in the region, soon, too.
https://projectr.tv/films/influenza/6041adbc1dbaac000145086c
And on the Criterion Channel, too:
https://www.criterionchannel.com/influenza
I don't know about the rest of the world. It was available in the UK in last year's online London Korean Film Festival, but only for a short time and I missed it.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11697820/releaseinfo
The only Western countries that I've seen it has national releases in so far are the USA and Canada and Italy. For everywhere else it's a case of seeing it at a festival (in a cinema or online), or waiting and searching every now and then to see if it's been licensed for release. https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=280801.html will have the name of the distributor for French-speaking Europe, if it ever gets licensed by one.
There don't appear to be any disc releases anywhere in the world yet. But when those start to be released, maybe the Taiwanese discs and at least the Northern American ones will have English subtitles.
https://projectr.tv/films/days/6114544f35a27c0001518dbc
It's also been out in Italy since 14 October this year:
https://www.mymovies.it/film/2020/days/
In most other countries, it's still only playing in festivals, so they're likely to be the only way of seeing it. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11697820/releaseinfo lists lots of festivals it has already played it, but it doesn't currently have anything about any upcoming ones.
I don't think it's even out on disc in Taiwan yet. Though, when it is, it's possible that the Blu-ray Disc and DVD of it there might have English subtitles. We'll have to wait and see. If it's released on disc in Northern America, after the virtual theatre release there, those discs will definitely have English subtitles.
This is a 2+ hour movie with little dialogue about a middle-aged gay man. It's not really a hot property. It's a slow movie which is not likely to have national releases in many countries, and it can still take a few years after their premiere for such movies to reach being released, even in the countries in which they do eventually have a release.
https://projectr.tv/films/red-post-on-escher-street/612682f1a56fb40001186ecd
You might be interested that two of the earliest screen adaptations of Murakami Haruki stories – maybe the earliest ones – will be available worldwide from 3–5 December:
https://matchboxcineclub.com/2021/11/16/a-super-serious-comical-movie-of-new-and-amusing-style/
https://www.kinolorber.com/product/wife-of-a-spy-blu-ray
I'd also suggest (if you haven't already) joining the mailing list and/or following the SNS accounts of the theatre that played it so that you don't miss out on other East Asian movies showing there, and following the SNS accounts of some or all of the below (it depends what covers the kind of titles you're most interested in) to be in the know about Japanese movies getting released in the US or playing in online festivals accessible from there.
News about Japanese cinema specifically:
http://genkinahito.wordpress.com
http://www.jflalc.org
http://www.midnighteye.com (the site and Twitter account are inactive – though still a great resource for reviews of movies of the past – but its Facebook Page is still updated)
http://www.unijapan.org/english/
http://www.vcinemashow.com
News about East Asian cinema generally:
http://asianmoviepulse.com
http://www.easternkicks.com
https://www.fareastfilms.com
http://windowsonworlds.com
Festivals/seasons available online:
https://www.asianpopupcinema.org
http://www.cjfc.us
http://www.fareastfilm.com/eng/
http://www.japansociety.org/arts-and-culture/films
http://jff.jpf.go.jp
https://jffh.de/en
http://jffla.org
http://nipponconnection.com/en/start/
http://nyaff.org (also posts news across most of the year that's relevant to all the US)
http://nyjcf.com
http://www.shortshorts.org/index-en.php
US distributors:
http://crescendo.house (new distributor, which has a Japanese movie as its first release)
http://www.elevenarts.net/live-action/home
http://www.filmmovement.com (has a lot of Japanese movies out now in the US and coming soon, though it releases ones from all over the world)
http://www.janusfilms.com (releases and rereleases movies from around the world, but Japanese and other East Asian ones are frequently among them)
http://www.kimstim.com (releases Japanese movies quite often)
http://www.wellgousa.com (primarily releases East Asian movies, though has lately been regularly releasing Western ones as well)
Japanese sales agencies:
http://colorbird.co.jp/en/
http://freestone.jp/service/sales
http://www.fujitv.com
http://intl.nikkatsu.com
http://www.gaga.co.jp/intls/
In particular, co-writer Hamaguchi has one of his own movies currently out in the US ("Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy", from Film Movement) and another coming next week ("Drive My Car"). "Gift of Fire", "Labyrinth of Cinema" and "They Say Nothing Stays the Same" are also making their way across the indie cinemas of the States.
"Wife of a Spy" is released by Kino Lorber, not any of the distributors I linked to above, though it's quite rare that they release East Asian movies, so they might not be worth following so much if you're specifically interested in those (though the ones they do release are quite big-name ones).
http://www.newwavefilms.co.uk/view-film-detail.html/?viewListing=MjQy&cat=1
http://www.themediapioneers.co.uk
This is the first cinema release in the UK beyond London of a Korean dramatic movie not directed by Bong Joon-ho since "Burning" in February 2019, near three years ago! So please try to support it if you can and would like to see more South Korean and other East Asian live-action released in cinemas here, and not only online and on disc.
https://www.mymovies.it/film/2021/wheel-of-fortune-and-fantasy/
https://www.mymovies.it/film/2021/drive-my-car/
You can read news on their releases there at https://www.facebook.com/TuckerFilm/
https://kisskh.at/people/22059-hamaguchi-ryusuke
Hamaguchi's two 2021 movies, "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy" and "Drive My Car", are both currently getting cinema releases in many countries, thanks to their wins at Berlin and Cannes respectively. His last two features, "Happy Hour" and "Asako I & II", are relatively easily available online and on disc around the world. But retrospective seasons, in cinemas or online for a limited time, appear to be the only way of catching the others with English subtitles, as far as I've been able to find out so far.
You can read more about this in English in the director's statement in the press kit from the movie's US distributor, Kino Lorber:
https://4f399d350e4882ff73b9-0f00c87f9e216dcd5acfbe5f7dfb64d7.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/production/documents/Wife%20of%20a%20Spy%20%E2%80%93%20Press%20Kit%20FINAL.pdf
https://kinomarquee.com/film/venue/611abb6dc2b2700001bb89e0
If it's not offered in cinemas near enough to you, you can let them know that you'd like them to play it by email or a message to one of their SNS accounts. If none end up playing it despite that, there's still virtual theatres, which are available nationwide.
http://www.filmswelike.com/films/wife-of-a-spy
If you can't find it near enough to you, I'd suggest letting the cinemas near you know that you're interested in it (whether by email, SNS message or in person).
Seeing it in a cinema (a real one or a virtual cinema – which https://kinomarquee.com/film/venue/611abb6dc2b2700001bb89e0 links to some of – if you can't get to a real one) will support the makers of the film and the subtitles to continue making movies and dramas you like and to subtitle them in English, and it will support the distributor and cinema to bring them to you. Dramacool dosen't do any of that; the makers and distributors of the movie won't even know that you've watched it on that, as it doesn't count towards official viewing figures.
https://www.modernfilms.com/drivemycar
Please support it if you can, because this is first UK cinema release of a new Japanese live-action movie in 22 months, and seeing this and "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy" in cinemas are our only foreseeable chances to encourage distributors to release more Japanese live-action in cinemas instead of only on home video.
In the USA and Canada, it's out a week later, on 24 November:
https://www.janusfilms.com/films/2040
http://www.filmswelike.com/films/drive-my-car
In Australia and New Zealand, it's out on 10 February 2022:
http://potentialfilms.com/contemporary-movies/drive-my-car/
Japan Film Festival Los Angeles definitely made it available worldwide and for several days around the same time, from 4–10 October (though I don't think for the flexible pricing that World of Film had):
https://watch.eventive.org/jffla/play/613e7c6129513200c8872658
But I only found out about that festival after it was over (from a post on the Facebook Page of another Japanese film fest based somewhere else in the US; I can't remember which, as there are a lot of them, and previously they only played movies in their own cites but now they're all available online throughout at least the US, and sometimes internationally).
It's been in a lot of festivals, both online and in cinemas. I know more recently it had an in-cinema screening in Sci-Fi-London on 24 October, for example, with the writer and director visiting.
So your best chance of seeing it any time soon is to find out about film festivals happening soon: those that will be in cinemas in your vicinity, those that are based somewhere in the same country as you and that are available online, and those that are based in other countries but specialise in a relevant subject like Japanese cinema, sci-fi, female creators, etc. – as that kind I've found are more often available internationally than general film festivals without a particular theme.
The same applies to most recent movies not yet licensed for where one is. Though this one actually has a relatively good chance of being found in festivals, compared to most.