Love Letter (1995)

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

Director:

Shunji Iwai

Writer:

Shunji Iwai

Stars:

Miho Nakayama, Etsushi Toyokawa, Bunjaku Han

14 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited 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
Tomorô Taguchi	...	Female itsuki's father
Hiroshi Kanbe	...	Haruo
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mariko Kaga	...	Male itsuki's mother

Storyline

Hiroko Watanabe's fiancé Itsuki died two years earlier in a mountain climbing accident. While looking through his high school yearbook, Hiroko in a fit of grief decides to write a letter to him using his old school address. Surprisingly she receives a reply, not from the dead Itsuki, but from a woman with the same name whom had known Hiroko's fiancé in school. A relationship develops between the two women as they continue to exchange letters and share memories of the dead Itsuki.

---

Plot Keywords:

letter | high school yearbook | yearbook | mountain | memory | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for brief mild language

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

10 July 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

When I Close My Eyes

Filming Locations:

Nobeyama, Japan

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$454,754

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fuji Television Network

Technical Specs

Runtime:

117 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Most of the film was shot in the Otaru area on the island of Hokkaido. The only exception among the exterior scenes is near the end of the film as Hiroko faces the mountain where her ex-fiance' Itsuki died in a climbing accident two years earlier. Although the house where she spent the night is actually on Hokkaido, the view from it in the film is of Mt. Yatsugadake. She is standing before it on the Nobeyama Highland at sunrise. Yatsugadake literally means "eight peaks" and the peak she is addressing is named "Aka-dake" or "red peak" which is the highest of the eight peaks at 2896 meters. This volcanic peak lies about 120 kms northwest of Tokyo and is in fact frequented by climbers. There is a magnificent view of Mt. Fuji from the summit.

---

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.

---

Connections

Referenced in Twice: Cheer Up (2016)

---

Soundtracks

Girlfriend
Written by The Pillows
Performed by Remedios

User Reviews

An Unbelievable Coincidence

This is one of the best romantic movies in my life. It doesn't have a kiss scene or even a hug scene like typical Hollywood movies, except for scenes recalling the past. The setting of the movie is winter in Japan. The director Suhnji Iwai made this film with many poetic scenes. I can recall the time when I was in high school. This movie reminded me of the pure feeling of love.

Hiroko (Miho Nakayama) goes to her ex-boyfriend's memorial service. Itsuki Fujii died on a mountain climbing accident two years ago. When she visits the house of her ex-boyfriend's mother, she finds his high school year book and takes notes of his address. She struggles to overcome the grief coming from losing him at that moment. She sends a letter to Itski Fujii because of romantic reason. Surprisingly, she receives an answer from him. Hiroko knows the address does not exist any longer after it was demolished for a highway construction.

Another female, Itsuki Fujii is a Hiroko's ex-schoolmate who shared the school days with him. Coincidentally she has the same name Itsuki Fujii and she tells many stories about male Itsuki's school life when they were young. Corresponding with letters for that time between them, Hiroko looks back on Itsukii's past and feels slightly jealous about female Itsukii. Moreover, female Itsukii finds another truth that she didn't know about the past. It seems like they are in a love triangle beyond time.

Miho Nakayama plays roles of two women-Hiroko and female Itski -at the same time. Her acting is impressive, especially her crying monologue is very famous. The story is sad but she does not play her role with grief all the time. She acts with the sad feeling in moderation. With her beautiful voice, her acting sparkles pure and elegant.

The director made this film with special camera effects. Some parts of this movie don't have the clear scene and instead he used the foggy, dreamlike scene intentionally. I think he wants to express his feeling with great delicacy, not directly.

Considering only this story, it may look boring but it isn't boring at all while I watch this movie. It is filled with enormous mountain views and poetic music. The background piano music is very popular among people.

In this film, the actors don't say many words but we can feel more than their lines because the dialogue is full of suggestions.The images from this movie still linger in my mind.