'Last Letter' director Iwai Shunji on his obsession with letters

Filmmaker Iwai Shunji / Courtesy of Media Castle

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Japanese filmmaker Iwai Shunji, who is best known among Korean cineastes for his hit 1995 melodrama “Love Letter,” is returning with another sentimental film that tells a story through letters. Letters have been a fixture in his films, adding an element of narrative and inducing a retro feeling that blends well with his nostalgic plots.

“Back in my school days, it was common to exchange letters with friends and express one's feelings through love letters. In my mid-20s, I thought that someday I would tell a tale about the beauty of written words. I wanted to portray letters as something special, not simply an element that brings back old memories,” Iwai said during an online press conference with Korean reporters, Wednesday.

“We now live in an era of social media, where we talk to or join conversations with complete strangers. Just like the evolution of social media has been fueled by human will to communicate with others, I think letters are a symbol of history. They still carry a certain allure even to this day because we pour our hearts into them.”

When her sister Misaki dies, Yuri (Matsu Takako) goes to her high school reunion to tell friends the heartbreaking news. However, she is mistaken as her sister and decides not to correct them. There, she meets novelist Kyoshiro (Fukuyama Masaharu), a senior she had a crush on back in high school. But he was in love with Misaki, and is still in love with her. After the reunion, the two begin exchanging letters, with Yuri continuing to impersonate Misaki.

Then, one of Kyoshiro's letters is sent to Misaki's parents' house and later into the hands of the deceased's daughter Ayumi (Hirose Suzu) and Yuri's daughter Soyoka (Mori Nana), who is staying with her cousin over the summer break. The girls write back, also pretending to be Misaki. The scenes begin to switch between the past and present, with Hirose and Mori playing the younger versions of their characters' mothers.

A scene from “Last Letter” / Courtesy of Media Castle

Iwai revealed that the film's starting point was filming “Chang-ok's Letter” (2017), another tale that centers on the beauty of exchanging letters. It was filmed in Korea and starred Bae Doo-na.

“Chang-ok's Letter was a short film, but I extended the storyline and added more elements to recreate a new story which became the motif of Last Letter. It's fun to make a two-hour film, but also rewarding to recreate my original stories. For instance, I really liked turning my 2014 romance drama Hana and Alice into the animated version The Case of Hana & Alice with a little plot twist,” he said.

On reuniting with “Love Letter” stars Nakayama Miho and Toyokawa Etsushi after more than two decades, he said “It was nice to finally work with them again after such a long time. Back in 1995, I thought we could meet again very soon, but later realized that casting and scheduling don't always work the way I want them to. After shooting, Nakayama Miho told me that she wants to do more projects with me. I hope so too.”

Asked if the massive success of “Love Letter” holds him back from making films, he said “Not at all. I made Love Letter with a comfortable state of mind, but it unexpectedly received so much love from Asia including countries like Korea and China. Actually, the success gave me a lot of strength to carry on as a filmmaker. I think I'm really lucky that my first feature film was so successful and popular with Asian audiences.”

“Last Letter” will hit local theaters, Feb. 24.