Love Letter (1995 film)
1995 Japanese film by Shunji Iwai
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Love Letter (Japanese: ラブレター, Hepburn: Rabu retā) is a 1995 Japanese romantic film written, directed and edited by Shunji Iwai in his debut feature film and starring Miho Nakayama. The majority of the film was shot on the island of Hokkaidō, primarily in Otaru. It achieved great success at the box office in Japan and gained popularity in other East Asian countries, particularly South Korea. Remarkably, it was one of the first Japanese films to be shown in South Korean cinemas since World War II, garnering 645,615 admissions and ranking as the tenth highest-grossing general release of the year.[1]
Tomoki Ikeda
Jiro Komaki
Masahiko Nagasawa
| Love Letter | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Shunji Iwai |
| Written by | Shunji Iwai |
| Produced by | Shūji Abe Tomoki Ikeda Jiro Komaki Masahiko Nagasawa |
| Starring | Miho Nakayama Etsushi Toyokawa Bunjaku Han Miki Sakai Takashi Kashiwabara Ranran Suzuki |
| Cinematography | Noboru Shinoda |
| Edited by | Shunji Iwai |
| Music by | Remedios |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Japan Herald |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 117 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Shunji Iwai collaborated with cinematographer Noboru Shinoda, resulting in a film celebrated for its evocative winter cinematography.[citation needed] Pop singer Miho Nakayama was cast in the dual roles of Hiroko Watanabe and Itsuki Fujii, while teenager Miki Sakai made her movie debut and won the 'Newcomer of the Year' Award at the Japanese Academy Awards for her portrayal of a young Itsuki Fujii. Etsushi Toyokawa and Takashi Kashiwabara played the main male roles as Akiba Shigeru and the male Itsuki Fujii, respectively[2].
To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the film, a 4K remaster was released in select theaters in Japan on 4 April 2025.[3]
The American distribution rights for the film were acquired by Fine Line Features, which released it in theaters under the new title When I Close My Eyes.
Plot
Hiroko Watanabe, living in Kobe, loses her fiancé, Itsuki Fujii, in a mountain climbing accident. Two years later, on the day of Itsuki's memorial ceremony, Hiroko looks through his high school yearbook and finds an address under his name in the city of Otaru. She sends a letter to him at the old address and receives a reply from a woman named Itsuki Fujii, who bears a striking resemblance to Hiroko. The movie alternates between Hiroko and Female Itsuki as they exchange letters.
Female Itsuki, who works at the public library, is suffering from a persistent cold but refuses to seek medical help. It is revealed that her father died of pneumonia when she was in high school. Hiroko visits her friend Akiba and shows him the letter, believing it to be a message from heaven. Akiba confesses his feelings for Hiroko and encourages her to let go of Itsuki. Hiroko continues writing to Itsuki, learning over the course of several epistolary exchanges that her correspondent is a woman who as an adolescent attended the same school, in the same class, as her former fiancé, a situation that prompted incessant teasing by classmates and led to the Itsukis sharing the duty of looking after the school library.
To uncover the truth and help Hiroko move on, Akiba and Hiroko travel to Otaru, Female Itsuki's hometown. However, at the very moment they arrive, Female Itsuki is tricked into going to the hospital, where she falls asleep and has a dream about her father's death. Meanwhile, Hiroko and Akiba wait outside Female Itsuki's home, where Hiroko finally decides to leave a letter instead of waiting any longer. In a magical scene, as the travelers make their way out of town, Itsuki, having read the letter, passes them by on her bicycle, only to be hailed by Hiroko. She stops and turns, a crowd of pedestrians intervenes, and the two women are separated, never to meet.
Back home, Hiroko realizes that there were two Itsuki Fujiis and asks Female Itsuki to share her high school memories of Itsuki. She has come to believe, plaintively, that her striking resemblance to the librarian accounts for the feelings her fiancé had for her.
Flashbacks reveal that Male Itsuki was a shy and peculiar boy, anything but a Romeo. Among his pastimes during the hours spent in the school library was borrowing, using the old slips pocketed in the backs of library books that bore the borrower's names and the book's due date, as many books never previously checked out as he could find. During her mourning period for her father, Female Itsuki is visited by Male Itsuki, who asks her to return a book for him. After her return to school, she discovers that Male Itsuki has transferred, and she will never see him again.
Female Itsuki visits her old school and learns that Male Itsuki died in a mountain-climbing accident two years earlier. Hiroko and Akiba visit the mountain where Itsuki died, sharing their memories of him. Meanwhile, Female Itsuki collapses from a fever: her neglected cold has turned into pneumonia, mirroring her father's fate. Her mother and grandfather brave a snowstorm to get her to the hospital just in time.
In the mountains, Akiba wakes Hiroko to watch the sunrise and points to the distant peak where Itsuki died, calling out playfully to his old climbing companion. Hiroko cries out to Itsuki, using the same standard greeting penned in her first letter: "Are you okay? I'm doing well." She repeats her cry over and over. Meanwhile, Female Itsuki wakes up in the hospital, murmuring the same words.
Some time later, Hiroko and Itsuki continue their correspondence. Itsuki receives a visit from volunteer girls from her former high school library, who show her the book Male Itsuki had given her to return. They discover his name on the checkout card and, on the back, find a sketch he made of Female Itsuki. She weeps. After setting down on her word processor a long description of the episode, Female Itsuki decides not to send the letter.
Cast
- Miho Nakayama as Itsuki Fujii and Hiroko Watanabe
- Etsushi Toyokawa as Akiba Shigeru
- Bunjaku Han as female Itsuki Fujii's mother
- Katsuyuki Shinohara as female Itsuki Fujii's grandfather
- Miki Sakai as Itsuki Fujii as a young girl
- Takashi Kashiwabara as male Itsuki Fujii
- Mariko Kaga as Yasuyo Fujii
- Keiichi Suzuki as Seichii Fujii
- Tomorowo Taguchi as Shinkichi Fujii
- Ranran Suzuki as Sanae Oikawa
- Kumi Nakamura as Ms. Hamaguchi
- Sansei Shiomi as Kajioyaji
- Ken Mitsuishi as Abe Kasuga
- Hirokazu Umeda as Toshimitsu
- Emiko Osada as Harumi
- Kaori Oguri as Suzumi
- Toshiya Sakai as driver
- Hajime Yamazaki as grade head
- Hiroshi Kanbe as Haruo
- Sumi Mutoh as nurse
- Chika Fujimura as Library Committee Member Haruka
- Mie Hayashi as Library Committee Member Mari
- Yu Takahara as Library Committee Member Yuko
- Yu Tokui as additional cast
Awards
Wins
- 1996 Japanese Academy Awards - Newcomer of the Year (Miki Sakai)
- 1996 Japanese Academy Awards - Newcomer of the Year (Takashi Kashiwabara)
- 1996 Japanese Academy Awards - Most Popular Performer (Etsushi Toyokawa)
- 1996 Blue Ribbon Awards - Best Actress (Miho Nakayama)
- 1996 Kinema Junpo Awards – Best Film (Shunji Iwai)
- 1995 Hochi Film Awards - Best Actress (Miho Nakayama)
- 1995 Hochi Film Awards - Best Supporting Actor (Etsushi Toyokawa)
- 1995 Toronto International Film Festival - Audience Award
Nominations
- 1996 Japanese Academy Awards - Best Film
- 1996 Japanese Academy Awards - Best Music (Remedios)
- 1996 Japanese Academy Awards - Best Supporting Actor (Etsushi Toyokawa)