Love Letter (1995)

Director:

Shunji Iwai

Writer:

Shunji Iwai (writer)

Release Date:

10 July 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

When exchanging letters two women discover new things about a man they knew.

Plot Keywords:

Memory | High School | Yearbook | Mountain | Mountain Climbing

Awards:

14 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Miho Nakayama	...	Itsuki Fujii / Hiroko Watanabe
Etsushi Toyokawa	...	Akiba Shigeru
Bunjaku Han	...	Female itsuki's mother
Katsuyuki Shinohara	...	Female itsuki's grandfather
Miki Sakai	...	Itsuki Fujii as a young girl
Takashi Kashiwabara	...	Male itsuki fujii
Ken Mitsuishi	...	Abekasu
Emiko Nagata	...	Harumi
Kaori Oguri	...	Suzumi
Naoki Gotô	...	Ootomo
Toshiya Sakai	...	Driver
Keiichi Suzuki	...	Male itsuki's father
Tomorowo Taguchi	...	Female itsuki's father
Hiroshi Kanbe	...	Haruo
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mariko Kaga	...	Male itsuki's mother
Kumi Nakamura	...	Hamaguchi, teacher
Sansei Shiomi	...	Kajioyaji
Ranran Suzuki	...	Sanae Oikawa

Also Known As:

Letters of Love (USA)
Rabu retâ (Japan) (promotional title)
When I Close My Eyes

MPAA:

Rated PG for brief mild language.

Runtime:

Japan:117 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Malaysia:U | South Korea:All | Singapore:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Nobeyama, Japan

Company:

Fuji Television Network

Trivia:

Near the end of the film Itsuki recalls the time of her father's funeral in flashback. The music playing under this scene is called "A Winter Story" and begins with a piano solo. The piano for this piece is played by eight year old Yui Makino.

Quotes:

Male itsuki fujii: [Checking out books from the female Itsuki in the school libray. The male Itsuki holds up five checkout cards that he has been the first to sign like a poker hand. He speaks in English] Fujii Itsuki straight flush.

Japanese minimalism and eccentricity

Okay, at first view I had to admit the dialogue and the the intercourse between the people seemed rather incongruous and false, somehow very strange in terms of social relations and interrelations, but, the second time, man it's it just might be Japanese mental setting that differs from the usual Hollywood stuff, still, the Idea, I mean, I'm a Poet and appreciate this kind of playing, that s what I thought, but man, its everything but, its, just so true, and think about it sending a letter to a dead sweetheart, its sentimental but also very true in the poetic sense of the word, and the dualism, the way the persons intertwine, all this is very unwestern and refreshing, since this movie was the directors breakthrough in the west.

And well, in the summer of 2005 I didn't understand this movie, tried to analyze it as I watched, but then at the end when the music started I cried, all thru the credits, it was purifying, a very true experience a very true movie, very touching, very poetic, and VERY Japanese.

The best movie I've seen.