Love Letter (1995)

Love Letter: Directed by Shunji Iwai. With Miho Nakayama, Etsushi Toyokawa, Bunjaku Han, Katsuyuki Shinohara. When exchanging letters two women discover new things about a man they knew.

“This is one of the best romantic movies in my life. It doesnu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHiroko (Miho Nakayama) goes to her ex-boyfriendu0026#39;s memorial service. Itsuki Fujii died on a mountain climbing accident two years ago. When she visits the house of her ex-boyfriendu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnother female, Itsuki Fujii is a Hirokou0026#39;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 Itsukiu0026#39;s school life when they were young. Corresponding with letters for that time between them, Hiroko looks back on Itsukiiu0026#39;s past and feels slightly jealous about female Itsukii. Moreover, female Itsukii finds another truth that she didnu0026#39;t know about the past. It seems like they are in a love triangle beyond time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMiho 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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe director made this film with special camera effects. Some parts of this movie donu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eConsidering only this story, it may look boring but it isnu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn this film, the actors donu0026#39;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.”