The Japanese Wife” is based on the short story by veteran writer Kunal Basu with the same name. The story is about two simple introvert people, a man in India and a girl in Japan who connect together as pen pals and slowly grows into each other to an extent that they start living like a married individuals and how they pass through life with faith and letters without meeting each other for seventeen years.

If this comes across to you as incomplete plot, I must tell you its not. There is nothing more to this straightforward story. And if this doesn't excite you don't be worried, as it's not a regular Masala film which we watch sitting on the edge of our seats. Rather it's a movie which is no less than a piece of art which you would want to sit back and relish.

This tale of a long-distance 'marriage' between a Bengali bhadra-lok from rural Bengal Snehmoy (Rahul Bose) and his Japanese pen-pal Miyage (Chigusa Takaku) suffers from an incurable disease known as Inherent Silliness. Based on a true story by Kunal Basu, this is the ultimate non-romance between two people who thoroughly deserve each other.

They're both so annoying and outdated in their naiveté, you see! The couple married to each other for over 15 years never meets and barely speaks to each other on the phone a few times (talk about phoney relationships, this one takes the cake). When Miyage falls ill in Japan Snehmoy goes to the doctor in Kolkata with her medical reports. The doc's expression when he hears why the patient can't come personally to be examined is exactly the way we feel about this long-distance marriage.

‘The Japanese Wife' is Aparna Sen's 8rth directorial venture and it's one among her best work and does complete justice to the Kunals Story. Normally in an attempt to make the movie more visually appealing the biggest mistake most of the director do is to fiddle around with the storyline or add in needlessly Masala, which is not the case with ‘TJW'. It is authentically served and garnished with flawless direction by Aparna.

You can see the story only because of the characters and the actors who played it. Whether its senior actress Maushami Chaterjee in the role of Maasi or new generation actors like Rahul Bose (Playing Snehamoy) and Raima Sen (Playing Sandhya), each one of them convince you tremendously and credit goes to Aparna for the amount of work she did with each one of them.Rahul Bose has always been a surprise (read pleasantly) for the audience, but for Japanese Wife he sets in a phenomena which would be a difficult bet to follow in future cinematic perfromances by him. Raima has always been a better and safer bet than her sister Riya sen. Her silences are well formed and meaningful. Not to forget the Child Artist who plays “Poltu” in the film and bowls you with his innocent performance. Chigusa Takaku who plays the Japanese wife Miyagi, did not have much to offer except her voice throughout the movie but wherever she appeared she ensures to tug your heartstrings.

'The Japanese Wife' gives you a feeling of walking in an art gallery, its lyrical in nature and apart from Aparna the other artists who has contribute to this form of art are, Cinematographer Anay Goswami,framing and camera movements in a rhythmic manner  and the Art director Gautam Basu's utilisation of  the of colors are worth an applause. Music by Sagar Desai never overpowers the story and that's the best part about it. The music has a Japanese theme but the way it blends with Bengali music that it is hard to keep apart.

Overall, it's a good film to watch once if your taste buds for good and new cinema.