Love Letter (1995)
I love watching movies in December, both Christmas films and general winter films. Two standouts this year have been Love Letter (1995) and The Shop Around the Corner (1940), both of which center on two people writing letters to each other. This first post will cover Love Letter.
Truthfully, Love Letter has been my standout winter film for the fifth year in a row. Covering themes of life, death, and romance, it is easily my favorite film from Japan of all time and follows Hiroko, who lost her fiancé in a mountain climbing accident two years prior. After finding his childhood address in an old yearbook, a home that was demolished years ago, she writes him a letter addressed there, of course not expecting a reply. Surprisingly, she does receive a response, and it is from a woman named Itsuki, who just happens to share the same name as Hiroko’s fiancé, meaning the letter was accidentally sent to her home. She was Male Itsuki’s classmate in junior high, and the two women begin writing each other letters, reminiscing about the one person who connected them.
Through these letters, Hiroko learns to cope with Male Itsuki’s death, while the film also looks back through several flashbacks at Female Itsuki’s relationship with him during their school years, as well as the loss of her father during that time. The star of the film, Miho Nakayama, plays both Hiroko and Female Itsuki impressively, portraying them believably as two different people who happen to look almost identical.
The film itself is beautifully shot, capturing cozy winter energy and snowy landscapes with cinematography that had me pausing the film several times. From the gorgeous visuals to the pure happy-sad sentimentality, I love watching this film with a bottle of wine for the full emotional rollercoaster.
On a lighter note, during one of the school flashbacks, there’s a kooky girl who is aggressively trying to get Female Itsuki to set her up with Male Itsuki. In one scene, she’s combing her hair and suddenly realizes she’s just combed a huge hair clump right off. Her eyes bulge in shock in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, and that might be one of the greatest hilarious bits of acting I’ve ever seen. I hope I’m not the only one who noticed.