| Rating: | ★★★★★ |
| Category: | Movies |
| Genre: | Drama |
For me, the perfect Valentine's day movie is the Japanese film, Love Letter.
I was first intrigued by the little-known film, after finding out it was huge hit in South Korea. I remember laughing after seeing a film showing a hard core gang leader (was it Happy Ero Christmas?) watching Love Letter and weeping uncontrollably.
Love Letter is probably the first modern Japanese film I can remember watching, not counting Hayao Miyazaki, Akira Kurosawa and anime movies.
The movie starts by introducing Hiroko, a young woman who is still mourning the death of her fiancee Fujii Itsuki after two years. In a moment of impulse, she writes a letter to her fiancee's old home address (which she knows has already been torn down) in his hometown.
Little did she know there is also another Fujii Itsuki (played by the same actress as Hiroko) living in the small town. But this time, Itsuki is a girl, who has been nursing a terrible cold throughout winter. She receives the letter, and in a whimsical move, decides to write back to Hiroko even if she has no idea who she is.
Hiroko becomes intrigued, thinking her fiancee is writing to her from the graveyard. Thus begins a unique relationship between Hiroko and Itsuki, who it turned out knew the male Itsuki. The two girls are strikingly similar, could even pass as twins, but they never meet.
Hiroko asks her to "share" her memories of her dead fiancee during junior high. The female Itsuki (Do I look like the young Itsuki? Hmm...) was the classmate of the male Itsuki, whom she described as unfriendly and aloof. She only had bad memories, recalling her classmates' incessant teasing for 3 years because of their same names.
She had to endure being teased with the male Itsuki, who somewhat aloof and unfriendly; and being voted for the library committee with Itsuki.One of the male Itsuki's quirks was his penchant for writing his name on the blank library cards of books which no one ever checked out. He would wait for the female Itsuki and cover her head with a paper bag,
while biking!
As Itsuki shared her memories, suddenly it seemed apparent there was something between the two Itsukis. But the female Itsuki did not think so, at least during their younger years.
It was so cute, seeing the young stars go through junior high. The fact that the younger male Hsuki is such a cutie, only made me like the film more. Itsuki is played by Takashi Kashiwabara.
If the story started with the love story between the dead Itsuki and Hiroko, it ends up being the untold romance between the two Itsukis. One of the sad moments is when Hiroko realizes that her fiancee may have chosen her because of her striking resemblance to his first love, Itsuki. Her fiancee once told her it was "love at first sight", but she realizes it was not actually true.
Itsuki is actually really dense, she does not realize how the male Itsuki must have liked her before. Hiroko has to tell her that the male Itsuki may not have been writing his name on the library cards, but actually her name.
Is it possible that one goes through love without realizing it? After all, it was only in adulthood when Hsuki realized it. I cried at the end, when Itsuki sees the old book the guy gave her. In the past, she did not realize it but the library card had her name and sketch of her on the back.
Director Shunji Iwai really created a beautiful film about love both lost and found. The movie wouldn't have been as effective if any other actress than Miho Nakayama played the lead roles.
Grab a pack of tissues before you see this film.
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