Love Letter

The story begins when Hiroko Watanabe (Miho Nakayama) prays in funeral for her spouse Itsuki who died in climbing accident couple od years ago. Visiting his mother's house after the funeral, she finds old school album, and an old address of him. She decides to write a letter to him. A letter to the next world.

It happened that during his highschool years, Itsuki's family moved, and that's when Hiroko met him. The letter which Hiroko sent, was sent to Itsuki's original home, to a small town in Hokkaido, Otaru. Ofcourse there was nobody there. Where used to be his house, now runs a road.

But then, all of a sudden, Hiroko receives a reply from a woman. Reply which states "I don't feel well, I have a flu." Both of the women embark to a journey of seeking for a lost love, and to remember. Akira (Etsushi Toyokawa), who was one of the best friends of Itsuki, feel somewhat jealous for Itsuki now, since he got her eyes on now to young and charming Hiroko. But Hiroko always seems to care Itsuki first.

Shunji Iwai writes very Japanese movies. In Love Letter there is this honest Japanese feel to it - the sounds in summer, semi, and the transparent air in Hokkaido. The movie has cheerful and gentle humor. Easy to watch, but hard to forget. The movie doesn't feel like drama movie, but more like a someone's personal diary.

The tone of colors of the movie are soft. Iwai uses his trademark - softening filter in the inside shots. The light seems to shine through windows in a way that it does in places like Otaru.

Otaru is depicted beautifully in this movie and actually this movie inspired my visit there. And I found that Otaru was just as charming as the movie shows.

I'm eager to look for new works of Shunji Iwai. Shunji Iwai also directed April Story (shigatsu monogatari).

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