MOVIE RECOMMENDS - Love Letter 1995

Today I am going to recommend something sentimental for the upcoming cold season (or rainy season for us at the equator)....

Love Letter (1995)

Directed & written by: Iwai Shunji
Cast: Nakayama Miho, Toyokawa Etsushi, Han Bunjaku, Shinohara Katsuyuki, Sakai Miki, Kashiwabara Takashi

Iwai Shunji has crafted quite the artistic piece here. Beautifully cinematographic movie: white snow whispering down the sleepy frozen town of Otaru.... light softly streaming through the trees... even the normally dreary classroom appears romantic. The soundtrack is hauntingly pleasant, I'd say much of the success of the movie also lies in the atmospheric music composition. Every song conjures up different scenes of the movie and also nostalgia. The pace was fitting, the unraveling of the story's plot is wonderful. The ending is wrapped up perfectly.

The story:

Watanabe Hiroko (Nakayama Miho) attends the second death anniversary of her fiance, Fujii Itsuki. She has not gotten over his death and in his bedroom she flips through his high school yearbook. She discovers his old home address in the yearbook, and decides to write a letter to him. The house did not exist anymore as there was a highway built over it. With hopes that her letter would reach heaven, she wrote: "Dear Fujii Itsuki, how are you? I am fine.".

Surprisingly she receives a reply that read, "I am fine, but have caught a cold."!

 

**Spoilers ahead**

Was her letter actually delivered to heaven? Or was it a prank? The truth was neither. The reply was certainly from a Fujii Itsuki - except that 'he' is a she. A case of mistaken identity... there were two Fujii Itsukis in the same class, one boy one girl.

Upon discovering the truth, Hiroko continues to correspond with female Itsuki, unawares female Itsuki resembled her (Nakayama Miho plays dual roles). She requests for the latter to share her memories of male Itsuki during high school.

The story then proceeds in semi-narrative style, on how both Itsukis were ridiculed to no end in school for three years.

I believe this is the scene most people remember or at least it's the one I like best:

 

 

The library scene! The school library is the pivotal point for their off-beat relationship. I like the "Maybe we can be friends, if only we didn't have the same name!" look from female Itsuki (Sakai Miki). It was short-lived though lol.

 

This is also one of the signature imagery from the movie, I thought it had an ethereal quality to it. It's no wonder Kashiwabara Takashi was tagged Japan's bishounen (pretty youth) of the 20th century, he is very good looking and resembles a manga character. I'm a fan of his drama "Itazura na Kiss"(1996), yes only the original Irie Naoki please.

Love Letter's visual and mirrored symbolism are apparent in many parts of the movie, emphasising on forgotten & reliving memories, lost chances & second chances, the seasons & colour palettes distinguish moods with the use of appropriate filters. The small bits of humour from the flashbacks are a nice touch to balance out the sentimental parts of the movie.

Nakayama Miho, of course, is outstanding, moving and natural. Both roles are so distinctly portrayed one might imagine they were played by different actresses. Toyokawa Etsushi who plays Akiba Shigeru, Hiroko's and male Itsuki's friend, is energetic, fits his role perfectly and ever popular. The two young Itsukis were movie debuts: Sakai Miki is a pretty charm to watch, while Kashiwabara Takashi, the wierdo with little dialogue but so memorable there are still people reminiscing about Fujii Itsuki by the window curtains. Another supporting character, a kooky schoolmate played by Suzuki Ranran stole the show whenever she appeared. This movie is highly recommended for a gloomy day! Maybe I will watch it again.

 Original Trailer (Eng subs)


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 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)

SWAROVSKI BEAUTIES

I went to the mall today and outside the Swarovski shop there was this super adorable crystal figurine that caught my eye - Bambi!

 

It costs S$250. What do you think?

And then there was this large crystal sculpture of two birds on a silver branch. The black facets were dazzling! The price is a pretty penny too. About $2K ++ if I remembered right.

This makes me want to buy more Swarovski beads to work on....

COOL ACRYLIC FLOWERS

I saw these cool acrylic flowers at a store the other day. So awesome, I like them because they are so fake-looking in a good way. Their stalks are transparent green acrylic too, and the big blooming yellow roses are my faves. They cost about $25 - $28 each (can't remember very well) at King & King Wong's. The store doesn't allow photography but eh too late didn't see the sign.

COOL PSYCHEDELIC VIDEO

This is awesome.

ART & MANGA-RELATED BOOK PICKS

Dropped by the art bookstore 'PageOne' at Vivocity mall recently! I can spend the whole afternoon there just browsing the design and art section, ooh I just wish I had the money to purchase them! These books below are on my wanted list:

'Illustration File Analogue'. It is a directory of Japanese illustrations published yearly. Unfortunately I didn't find the current year's or last year's edition and they don't have new copies either; it's one of my ultimate fave art books and I've been eyeing it for years! The illustrations featured are beautiful and varied, mostly of magazines, book covers and adverts with contact details of the artists. It's in Japanese.

'Manga Masters of the Art' contains interviews of prolific mangakas; their working processes, materials and other interesting titbits. Insightful although not super detailed but still makes for an interesting read. I was curious on how they met weekly deadlines and which aspects of producing manga were left to assistants.

'One Thousand Years of Manga' traces the beginnings of manga; from ukiyo-e prints to popular manga. A large part of the book are ukiyo-e art features and alot of familiar (and my favourite) manga artists who impacted the scene through the decades. Really lovely book with lots of colour.

'The Garden of Eye Candy'. I think alot of people already know about this book. The edition I saw was a PageOne edition without a box and different grey cover (also cheaper). It contains many artists who work in the style of hmm... eye candy. Girls with distinctive features or a certain atmostphere (lolita, goth, cute, etc). Sigh.

GORGEOUS CHINESE FASHION PHOTOSHOOTS

Check this out, a post on artistic fashion photography made in China, not too recent but still breathtaking. I love the ones inspired by the Beijing Olympics; as if poetry in motion captured on film. Great scans too - highr res!

http://ana-lee.livejournal.com/122540.html

THE JAPANESE GALLERY OF PSYCHIATRIC ART

Sometimes we can discover some really interesting obscure sites - this is one of them! Featuring Japanese psychiatric-related adverts. Some really funky looking images, spanning from the 1920s to 2006. My response: head-scratching. I enjoyed the gallery!

The Japanese Gallery of Psychiatric Art original site:

http://psychodoc.eek.jp/abare/gallery/index.html

English version (less content): 

http://psychodoc.eek.jp/abare/gallery/index_e.html

ART & ARTISTS - WILL H. BRADLEY

Will H. Bradley (1868 - 1962)

USA

This is yet another post for inspirations that I like to refer to. Check out my label 'Eye Candy' or 'Artists' for more features like this.

Will Bradley is famous for his typesetting styles, magazine covers and art nouveau posters. He was also an art nouveau innovator who initiated the poster craze in America.

CUTE STICKERS

Maybe I'm a little too old for these but they are irresistable! Soooo cute! The ones in the top are double-layered 3-D, and the lower photo are puffy kinds. I bought several styles and plan to use them for some little cards and tags when there's time!

ART & ARTISTS -NIKLAUS STOECKLIN

Niklaus Stoecklin (1896-1982), Swiss

I'm going to start regularly featuring eye candy on my blog for you and me to be inspired. Niklaus Stoecklin is famous for his poster design. I Iove his commercial posters, they still look remarkably modern and popish.

Weber Menziken Cigars

Bi-Oro, 1941

Bell (turkey), 1955

MOONCAKES PACKAGING - TUNG LOK

I just thought the packaging for mooncakes this year from Tung Luk (group of restaurants) is SO pretty! Even saved a clipping of their adverts for future reference =) There was a feature on mooncake packaging (for the upcoming Mid-autumn Festival/ Mooncake Festival) in the papers today as well. I collect tin boxes so if there's any chance I can get my hands on one of these (the yellow one especially) it'll be awesome. I recall in the previous years Tung Lok used old-school Shanghainese ladies painting, but this time they got a gorgeous real model!

Visit their site here: http://www.tunglok.com/

Unfortunately I don't like mooncakes so the other festival pastry option is the 'Pig in Basket' biscuit (Zhu Long/ Zhu Zai Bing) which are made from the same dough as the skin of the mooncakes. They are totally cute & yummy! Will blog about that another day =)

TYPOGRAPHY & ILLUSION - YEHRIN TONG

Time to time I'll come across a designer with awesome skills while surfing around. 

Yehrin Tong Illustration: http://yehrin.proteinos.com

Wonderful typography making use of lines, curls and optical designs, his repeat patterns also remind me of one of my favourite artists, M.C. Escher's, work.

Talking about optical illusions, I simply love them! I can't find an image of my favourite counter-rotating spirals so here's another famous spinnng spirals illusion:

WACKY PRODUCTS - ATYPYK

ATYPYK (http://www.atypyk.com)

I can't even pronounce their company's name or remember how to spell it but their site left an impression on me.

Welcome to the quirky, unorthodox, things-that-people-don't-need products known as ATYPYK from France. No matter how ridiculous or useless your merchandise may be, take it from these guys: packaging does help to sell. To see their list of items, go to the 'Products' tab on their bottom menu and click on the small grey arrows to see each item or use their drop menu. Makes fun gifts or to kill time!