Love Letter

One of the most beloved directorial debuts of the 1990s and a popular sensation in Japan and beyond, Iwai’s epistolary drama—first released in the US as When I Close My Eyes and playing here in a new 4K restoration—stars Miho Nakayama, in a dual role, as both widowed fiancée Hiroko and librarian Itsuki, a former classmate of Hiroko’s deceased lover, together keeping alive the memory of the departed in a correspondence, begun by accident, that brings many a faded memory into focus. A work of gentle melodiousness and forceful feeling, of unexpected digressions and beautifully modulated tonal shifts, and, thanks to cinematographer Noboru Shinoda’s exquisite eye for the snowy landscape of Hokkaido, of formidable pictorial beauty.