Love Letter (1995)

Plot summary: Hiroko Watanabe's fiancé Itsuki died two years earlier in a mountain climbing accident. While looking through his high school yearbook, Hiroko in a fit of grief decides to write a letter to him using his old school address. Surprisingly she receives a reply, not from her dead husband, but from a woman also named Itsuki whom had known Hiroko's husband in school. A relationship develops between the two women as they continue to exchange letters and share memories of the dead Itsuke.

Tbis has always been one of my favourite movies. I watched it many years ago, and like it enough to buy the movie to watch it again. Although many years has passed, this strikingly simple and beautiful movie still affects me. The scenes are beautifully crafted, and the emotions expressed by the characters are subtle, restrained, yet heartfelt. It's a story of coping with grief(just one of the many plotlines), of sending out a simple letter with just two sentences, "how are you? i am fine.". It's sending of a letter to heaven, to a non-existent address(the old school address is no more) hoping for closure.

These are two favourite scenes of mine:

1) Where the female lead cries out to the mountains where her fiancee lost his life. It's just the same phase again and again... "O-genki desu ka? "Watashi wa genki desu!" (How are you? I am fine.) How apt then that love, or suppressed emotions lies behind mere words...

2) The scene where the same namesake Itsuki is at the library and she looks up to see Hiroko's fiancee standing by the window, his head bent over reading a book. In that moment, the window curtains flutters gently against him, his hair is shimmering, and his whole body aglow with the light of the afternoon sun. This is how sometimes trival memories are captured..and isn't it how we look at a loved one? Shimmering, awash with light..dazzling.

This movie has not much action, and might be slow moving even. But its so exquisite, a multi-layered love story with a moving twist towards the end...it leaves you melancholy and yet lifts up your spirits..its a show that provokes you with the meaning of love long after it's over.