- Shunji Iwai's - Love Letter - DVD Review Shunji Iwai Love Letter DVD Review Shunji Iwai Love Letter DVD Review Shunji Iwai Love Letter DVD Review Shunji Iwai Love Letter DVD Review Shunji Iwai Love Letter DVD Review Shunji Iwai Love Letter DVD Review Shunji Iwai Love Letter DVD Review Shunji Iwai Love Letter DVD Review Shunji Iwai Love Letter DVD Review Shunji Iwai Love Letter DVD Review Shunji Iwai Love Letter DVD Review Shunji Iwai Love Letter DVD Review

(When I Close My Eyes)
directed by Shunji Iwai
Japanese 1995

Director Shunji Iwai achieved massive commercial success with Love Letter, an achingly sentimental and poetic film about love both lost and found. TV drama queen Miho Nakayama stars as Hiroko Watanabe, a young woman who has not yet recovered from the loss of her fiance Itsuki Fujii two years earlier. While visiting Itsuki's mother, she discovers his old yearbook, and finding out that the school has been demolished, she writes a short, simple letter to Itsuki and sends it to the school's former address. She doesn't intend for the letter to reach anyone, and instead hopes that the act of writing it will help ease her own pain. But surprisingly, she gets a response! The recipient is another person named Itsuki Fujii, a female who actually went to the same school as Hiroko's fiance. The two women continue to correspond, and the memories they share with one another bring Hiroko ever closer to finding closure. But will she ever recover enough to meet this other Itsuki Fujii? Co-starring popular Japanese actor Etsushi Toyokawa, Love Letter is a heartfelt and utterly affecting motion picture that fully demonstrates Shunji Iwai's masterful ability to bring intimate human emotions to the screen. Set against the picturesque backdrop of rural Hokkaido, Love Letter is a stunningly beautiful and even magical motion picture.

****

	Things are rarely as they appear... Shunji Iwai's first feature film, "Love Letter", may initially come across as a simple and wonderful modern romance, but upon closer look, discreetly tucked away inside is a much deeper study, a universal one on catharsis and the acceptance of death.
Love Letter directed by Shunji Iwai Review of the film and R-0 DVD by Gary W. Tooze

		Even after the second anniversary of her fiancée's untimely, accidental death, Watanabe Hiroko has not put closure on her emotional bond. Her heart must go through a cleansing... and so it does, as coincidentally fateful as one in a Shakespearian play. Fuji Itsuki died in a mountaineering fall. When his intended bride peruses his old Junior High School yearbook she comes across some information about his previous city of residence. She copies this old address on her forearm, but his Mother informs her that: "Yes we lived in Otaru. It is about 800 km from here.. the old house we lived in has been demolished to make way for a new freeway." Regardless, Hiroko, in an attempt at liberation of her feelings, is moved to write a short note to her past lover at that defunct address. She is simply inquiring about him and also informing him that she is fine. A letter she knows he will never receive. This letter arrives to another Fuji Itsuki... a girl close to her own age who co-incidentally shares her dead fiancée's name. Curious, playful or just polite, Itsuki responds to the letter without divulging any personal details, including her gender. Under mutual misconceptions they start to correspond. Itsuki (the fiancée) had some friends on his fateful mountaineering expedition. One was a brooding but wholesome and genuine glass-blowing artist named Etsushi. Etsushi is patiently pursuing Hiroko with amorous intentions. He too realizes she must go through her catharsis before getting on with her life, hopefully with him still waiting in the wings. To escalate her emotional cleansing he plans a trip for them to the source of the letters... to find Fuji Itsuki. Fatalistically, Fuji and Hiroko never officially meet, although they come close. The similarities of their appearance (actually the same actress Miho Nakayama) are divulged to Hiroko through the Yearbook. In their written communication they form a connection and stories about Fuji Itsuki are expressed with both able to learn more about this enigmatic, shy, young man. This magnificently photographed widescreen film can quite adeptly masquerade as a superficial run-in-the-mill romance. However, the film is devoid of any excessive expressions of emotion, joy, sobbing or even more than a simple kiss. In fact the love affair involved is totally unrequited. For most perceptive viewers, it is recognized for its more subtle themes on catharsis and a mediation on death. This premise holds true for both Hiroko, overcoming the tragic death of a fiancée, and the female Itsuki with her father passing away during her childhood. out of








For those almost paranoia-ically fearing "chick flics" then I doubt you would approach this film in the first place. But for those that would they may find much more than they bargained for. A film that can pacify the romantic and those fearing an overdose of sentimentality. I recommend it. A superb DVD and film experience.

DVD Comparison:

Saerom Entertainment/SRE - Korea - Region 0 - NTSC vs. KING - Japan R2 - NTSC

Posters (Click to enlarge)

Reviews More Reviews Screenplay DVD Reviews

(Saerom Entertainment/SRE - Region 0 - NTSC - LEFT vs. KING (Japan) - Region 2 - NTSC - RIGHT)

DVD Box Covers
Distribution	Saerom Entertainment/SRE [A Korea-Based Distributor] Region 2 - NTSC	KING ( Japan ) Region 2 (NTSC)
Runtime	1:56:04 min	1:56:08 min
Video	2.35:1 Letterboxed WideScreen Anamorphic Average Bitrate: 7.27 mb/s NTSC 704x480 29.97 f/s	2.35:1 Letterboxed WideScreen Anamorphic Average Bitrate: 8.10 NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s
Bitrate: Saerom R0
Bitrate: King Japan
Audio	English (Dubbed) (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0)	Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0)
Subtitles	English / Japanese / Korean, None	English, Japanese, None
Features	Special Features: Running time: 116 minutes Region: all Extras: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.35:1 ; Trailer; Synopsis; The World of Shunji Iwai; Cast & Crew Information; Animated Storyboards; Three Postcards; also comes with a bonus CD Soundtrack	Special Features: Running Time: 116 mins. DVD Video Color Layers: single-sided/dual-layered Aspect Ratio(s): 16:9/LB Cinemascope Regional Encoding: 2 Subtitles: English Japanese NTSC Format Animated Storeyboards Audio Track : Japanese /Dolby Digital /Stereo
Comments:	The Saerom R0 Disc has much too high black level. Even the brighter pictures appear washed out. This makes the picture look flat with very little contrast compared to the R2 Japan. Both discs have blue-ish whites. This looks more severe on the R2 Japan but that's because the problem is obscured a bit on the R0 by the too high black level. Edge enhancement is a problem on both discs. Especially the wider shots suffer, background detail is always lacking. R0 whites are clipping. Check out the snow on the rooftops (below) there's less detail there compared to the R2 Japan. Again, I prefer the R2 Japan. One could argue that the R0 black level problem could be fixed by turning down brightness on your display but that's a no-go for me, because it messes up my calibrated grayscale. And the clipping whites just look bad. .- *Jeroen*

Recommended Reading for Japanese Film Fans (CLICK COVERS or TITLES for more information)

The Japan Journals : 1947-2004,

by Donald Richie

The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film
by Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp

Kon Ichikawa (Cinematheque Ontario Monographs)

by James Quandt, Cinematheque Ontario

Shohei Imamura (Cinematheque Ontario Monographs, No. 1)
by James Quandt

Eros Plus Massacre: An Introduction to the Japanese New Wave Cinema (Midland Book, Mb 469)
by David Desser

The Films of Akira Kurosawa by Donald Ritchie

Ozu by Donald Richie

A Hundred Years of Japanese Film by Donald Richie

Check out more in "The Library"

DVD Menu
(Saerom Entertainment/SRE - Region 2 - NTSC - LEFT vs. KING (Japan) - Region 2 - NTSC - RIGHT)
.