Tegami (2006)

Tegami: Directed by Jirô Shôno. With Takayuki Yamada, Erika Sawajiri, Tetsuji Tamayama, Kazue Fukiishi. How have you been? Takeshi’s letter is delivered one each month to his younger brother, Naoki. Takeshi is serving a life term in prison for the crime that he had committed to save his brother. But the crime’s aftereffect extends to Naoki, and, branded as a “murderer’s brother,” Naoki is deprived of his love, career and dream. His desperate situation gradually changes when he finds true love with Yumiko, who always stands by him. To protect the love that he has finally found, Naoki begins writing a letter to Takeshi – The touching story of a man who was powerless against his irreversible fate, but still tried to overcome it in the quest for his dream.

“This is a nice drama about social stigma with some sweet romance on top. A man suffers discrimination and is ostracized in society because he has a brother who is in prison. I like how this movie doesnu0026#39;t paint this situation in black and white though. It shows how hard it is to survive in Japanese society, even if you are just guilty by (family) association with a criminal. But it also explains the reasons behind that mentality from, you could say, an evolutionary perspective. While this might not fit the current liberal Zeitgeist, it still makes sense.nSome little things that happen storywise are a bit far fetched, but all in all itu0026#39;s a very enjoyable film with likeable characters.”