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The Letter

  • 20122012
  • RR
  • 1h 32m
IMDb RATING
3.4/10
1.6K
YOUR RATING
The Letter
Trailer for The Letter
Play trailer1:35
2 Videos
16 Photos
DramaThriller
A playwright who begins to mentally unravel cannot decide if she is at the center of a manipulative plot or simply losing her grip on reality.A playwright who begins to mentally unravel cannot decide if she is at the center of a manipulative plot or simply losing her grip on reality.A playwright who begins to mentally unravel cannot decide if she is at the center of a manipulative plot or simply losing her grip on reality.
IMDb RATING
3.4/10
1.6K
YOUR RATING
    • Jay Anania
    • Jay Anania
  • Stars
    • Winona Ryder
    • Josh Hamilton
    • Marin Ireland
    • Jay Anania
    • Jay Anania
  • Stars
    • Winona Ryder
    • Josh Hamilton
    • Marin Ireland
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 23User reviews
    • 5Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos2

    The Letter
    Trailer 1:35
    Watch The Letter
    The Letter
    Trailer 2:18
    Watch The Letter

    Photos16

    Winona Ryder in The Letter (2012)
    Winona Ryder in The Letter (2012)
    Winona Ryder and James Franco in The Letter (2012)
    Winona Ryder in The Letter (2012)
    Winona Ryder in The Letter (2012)
    Laila Robins in The Letter (2012)
    Katherine Waterston in The Letter (2012)
    Winona Ryder in The Letter (2012)
    The Letter
    The Letter (2012)
    Winona Ryder and James Franco in The Letter (2012)
    Winona Ryder and James Franco in The Letter (2012)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Winona Ryder
    Winona Ryder
    • Martine
    Josh Hamilton
    Josh Hamilton
    • Raymond
    Marin Ireland
    Marin Ireland
    • Anita
    Katherine Waterston
    Katherine Waterston
    • Julie
    James Franco
    James Franco
    • Tyrone
    Dagmara Dominczyk
    Dagmara Dominczyk
    • Elizabeth McIntyre
    Laila Robins
    Laila Robins
    • Doctor Tynan
    Julie Ann Emery
    Julie Ann Emery
    • Doctor Lewis
    Eisa Davis
    Eisa Davis
    • Therapist
    Michael Kincade
    • Detective Roberts
    • (as a different name)
    C.J. Williams
    • Detective Abrams
    Vince Jolivette
    Vince Jolivette
    • Edward
    Samantha Sherman
    Samantha Sherman
    • Natasha
    Britt Lower
    Britt Lower
    • Kathleen
    Clem Cheung
    Clem Cheung
    • Chinese Man
    Ania Spiering
    • Waitress
    Scarlett Sperduto
    Scarlett Sperduto
    • Young Girl Singing
    Joshua Landay
    • Young Man
      • Jay Anania
      • Jay Anania
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      James Franco filmed all of his scenes in 3 days.
    • Quotes

      [first lines]

      Martine: I'm not sure I know how it began. But in the midst of a life that I now barely remember, in the midst of those now-forgotten New York days and nights, something happened. I believe it's all true. But it started with a dream.

    • Connections
      References Black Swan (2010)
    • Soundtracks
      For Martine
      Written by James Fenton

      Courtesy of James Fenton

    User reviews23

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    5/10
    A contrived, sincere, but very limited film
    The Letter (2012)

    Wow, such mixed reviews on this movie. Either all thumbs up or bomb? No, but it is weirdly both terrific and horrible at once. Here's my explanation why.

    This is a re-shaped reality movie in the same big (and growing) genre as "Memento" and "Pulp Fiction." As the movie progresses you are made to figure out what's going on in the most basic sense, separating reality from hallucination from moviemaker's trickery. This is a gripping game at its best that draws you into the dilemma from the character's standpoint, and that also messes with the viewer's basic ability to create sense of it for it's own sake.

    But what these movies require is a combination of characters you care about and a logic that is purely cemented by the end. The two earlier examples are brilliant at it. Not so "The Letter."

    This movie has the bones of an excellent, lower-budget variation on a reality bending plot, but it fails to make the characters significant (or sympathetic in any way) and it never makes the illogic within the movie reasonable.

    This might give something away, but near the end a big sweeping explanation is frankly provided by a doctor, and I told myself I've been wasting an hour making sense of what is really a series of fairly jumbled impressions. They don't quite make sense, I think, though you might be able to chart out the various mixed up sections on a piece of paper if you watched it a couple more times. Maybe.

    But no one would have the stamina. It's a movie with an exterior of brilliance but it's so stripped down in its other components it's actually, oddly, boring. For one thing, most of the action happens on a theater stage, which allows a kind of reality within a reality (and this ain't new, as lovers of Shakespeare know). Quickly we see that the characters are getting mixed up with the actors—that is, from the point of view of the writer/director of the play in the film, played by Winona Ryder, the expressions and frustrations in the script of the play echo the reality of the real people. When scenes shift (often suddenly) to an apartment or other outside space, the same kinds of personae are at work. The people are the characters.

    But they have almost nothing to do, no real baggage to explore, no narrative elements that matter. So there is an implied infidelity (who knows?) and a bit of concern about that, and maybe an infidelity that grows as the film is being assembled, perhaps (who knows?). But so what?

    The final insult to all this is that film's low budget feel and its unwillingness to accept that—it tries to look bigger than it is. It's often filmed in a stale way, and then pumped up with tonal effects or with startling (or confusing) edits. You wish it would add up to something, but it doesn't.

    Other reviewers have said that it all makes sense by the end. I think not. I think it's explained away at the end, but that's different. And either way it doesn't amount to a hill of beans.
    helpful•25
    2
    • secondtake
    • Dec 1, 2013

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • June 27, 2013 (Russia)
      • United States
      • Official site (Japan)
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Far Rockaway, Queens, New York City, New York, USA
    • Production companies
      • RabbitBandini Productions
      • Waterstone Entertainment
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 1 hour 32 minutes
      • Color

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