Kelly Park This is one of the best romantic movies in my life. It doesn'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.Hiroko (Miho Nakayama) goes to her ex-boyfriend's memorial service. Itsuki Fujii died on a mountain climbing accident two years ago. When she visits the house of her ex-boyfriend'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.Another female, Itsuki Fujii is a Hiroko'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 Itsuki's school life when they were young. Corresponding with letters for that time between them, Hiroko looks back on Itsukii's past and feels slightly jealous about female Itsukii. Moreover, female Itsukii finds another truth that she didn't know about the past. It seems like they are in a love triangle beyond time.Miho 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.The director made this film with special camera effects. Some parts of this movie don'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.Considering only this story, it may look boring but it isn'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.In this film, the actors don'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.

Chaude As if there are any more comments that need to be written about how great this film was....Here is another.There are many factors of the story, and the director(also the writer), Shuji Iwai, tells them beautifully and seamlessly.Each story could stand on it's own, but in fact it is each story that moves the film.Though it originally is about Watanabe Hiroko, the character Fujii Itsuki(female) takes over the story to the end.This is a movie that makes you think about it long after it's over. That's why I bought it. So, I can watch it when ever I want. There are no life lessons to be learned(except maybe listen to the "crazy" grandpa) nor a message to take away from this. Yet, the film grips you until it's finished. Wrapped up in these women's lives and memories, and scenic cinematography that Japanese films are well known for.In conclusion. I'm still thinking about it.

rickenbackerazn Before I mention the story, I'd have to say the imagery is absolutely beautiful in it! The wide shots of the mountains were amazing.I really started to enjoy this when the stories Fuji writes about are shown in the movie (this seems like scenes where my interest started to increase greatly).One may find the beginning slow, but once the movie has been set up, it becomes very interesting (esp. when they start to show stories from Fujii's past).Overall, I'm not one for love stories, but Love Letter's conclusion and overall "feeling" make this one of my favorite movies. 10/10

dleboone (contains spoilers) A woman, Hiroko, loses his fiancé Itsuki to a mountain climbing accident. A year later, she finds his high school yearbook. Not quite gotten over his death, she jots down the address of his old home and writes a letter to him (sort of a `letter to Heaven'). She does not expect to receive a reply because, to her knowledge, his old home has been torn down. But she does. It turns out that there's a woman with the same name as him and it is her who she mistakenly addressed the letter to. The woman happens to be in the same class as him in high school. A correspondence develops between the two women, as Hiroko, unable to let go and feeling slightly jealous, wants to find out more about her fiancé. Both gradually learn the truth more about the man. Oh yeah, the two women also look like each other.Strong points:-intriguing storyline, great storytelling technique and the plot nicely unfolds.-amusing scenes, especially those showing the idiosyncracies of the characters, helps move the story alonggreat winter scenery and camera shots plus a music score that complements the movie.not a melodramatic romantic drama, thankfully, despite what the title might suggest.good performance by the actress playing the dual role, although the story wasn't really demanding on the cast. She was cute, of course. The Itsuki Straight Flush - borrow all the unpopular books in the school library so that you'll have only your name written on the books' cards. (Not possible now that everything's computerized)-nicely played out ending. At first, I thought it was rather corny. The schoolgirls show Itsuki the drawing on the back of the library card. She's moved to tears. Yet, all that time the guy was to her only a boy who had the same name as her, causing her misery during her high school years. But I suppose all this time she chose to be in denial that the boy had interest in her and he is special to her in some high-school-nostalgia kind of way. So seeing the drawing broke down her denial and thus moved her to tears. Maybe the ladies can explain this. Will you be moved to tears if you found out that some guy you knew but don't care much about has feelings for you?Weak points:need to overlook some of the contrived coincidences. The main one, which is the pivotal point of the story, being that a guy and a girl share the same name and are classmates.the rather melodramatic climax where the grandpa carrying Ms. Itsuki to the hospital in 40 minutes and thus saves her life.the tree named after Ms. Itsukiwhat does it have to do with the story? It's rather distracting.I can rationalize why the movie is called The Love Letter (which screams melodrama), but I think it'd be more elegant to call it Letter to Itsuki or Dear Itsuki.Rating: 8.5/10