Last Letter 70 / 100
At MOVIX Amagasaki, on January 24th, 2020
Main Cast: Masaharu Fukuyama, Ryūnosuke Kamiki, Nana Mori, Suzu Hirose, Takako Matsu,
Director: Shunji Iwai
ラストレター ７０点
2020年1月24日 MOVIXあまがさきにて鑑賞
出演：福山雅治 神木隆之介 森七菜 広瀬すず 松たか子
監督：岩井俊二
Before going in, I was a bit apprehensive because the trailers seemed to give away a bit too much. However, this film proved to be a lot better than I assumed it would be.
鑑賞前は、トレイラーがややネタバレ過ぎではないかと心配していた。しかし、実際の映画は思っていたよりも遥かに良い出来だった。
Plot Summaries
Yuri – played by Takako Matsu – was attending a class reunion on behalf of her deceased elder sister Misaki – played by Suzu Hirose. Mistaken for her sister, Yuri had to start corresponding with Kyoshiro Otosaka – played by Masaharu Fukuyama –, her own first love and her sister’s ex boyfriend. And so, their bizarre correspondence began …
あらすじ
裕里（松たか子）は死去した姉・未咲（広瀬すず）の同窓会に出席して、姉の死を知らせようとした。だが、姉と間違われてしまった裕里は、自身の初恋の人であり、姉の大学時代の交際相手だった乙坂鏡史郎（福山雅治）と文通を始めることになってしまった。それは自分の娘と姉の娘が、未咲の人生を追体験することにも重なっていき・・・
Positives
Great camerawork. The director of photography really did an awesome job framing nearly every shot so beautifully and quietly. Most of the shots in Acts 1 & 2 were dimly lit as hardly any lighting was provided, or so it seemed. However, that’s what made the picture of two girls walking together amazingly impressive as they shone in broad daylight in their full glory. It just made me feel as if the two girls, Ayumi and Soyoka, were reincarnations of their mothers. This is the kind of scene you have to see in a darkened theater.
I also liked the background music. The piano sounds make you feel serene and calm. Lately, there are many Japanese films that use orchestra as if to say “This is where you shed tears, Go ahead!” and those films just get on my nerves. I think director Shunji Iwai, along with Takeshi Kitano, is the best filmmaker in Japan who knows how to use discreet, transparent music. The tick tuck sound of a clock in Ayumi’s home was memorable as it made it much clearer that there was no one around. A beautiful entanglement of light and shade and sound and silence was simply breathtaking. While there are many creators who try to be artistic but end up being artsy, Shunji Iwai is definitely the one who is artistic not because he tries to be but because HE IS. You have got to love his works.
The scene where Kyoshiro visited his deceased first love was purely heart-wrenching. He hadn’t been able to move on for 25 years, and now he has to. The fact that the girl you were once in a relationship with is gone forever without you knowing that life was such a bi*ch to her is crushing. Whatever happened, Kyoshiro left Misaki, and that’s where her life began to get darkened. Being about as old as Kyoshiro, I was able to what was going on in his head. If I was a teenager or in my twentieth, it would be virtually impossible for me to sympathize with him in this moment. Tears welled up in my eyes as his lonely soul finally had the moment of redemption.
To think, when writing a letter, you are conversing with yourself. You write as you read and you read as you write. In your head is the person who will receive the letter. This is how Kyoshiro, an unpopular novelist, created his first and only book whose title was Misaki. That was his way of keeping Misaki alive. Now, the bizarre correspondence has brought Misaki back to life one more time, and that is the beauty of this story. All the characters relived the life of Misaki, and so, they start to live their lives. The Last Letter from Misaki, the mother, to Ayumi, her daughter, was meant to pass the torch of life. Great stuff.
ポジティブ・サイド
何とも美しい、そして計算されたカメラワークである。基本的には序盤から中盤にかけてのほとんどのショットは暗く、極力照明を使わず自然光のみを頼りに撮影されているが、だからこそ終盤の陽光をいっぱいに浴びる鮎美と颯香の姿が際立って美しい。暗転した劇場の大画面で観るとなおさらにそう感じる。
ピアノをメインにした控えめで淡い旋律も心地よい。壮大なオーケストラで「はい、ここが涙を流す場面ですよ」と出しゃばる邦画は結構多い。削ぎ落された、透明感あるBGMの使い手となると日本では北野武と岩井俊二が双璧だろうか。鮎美の家の時計のチクタク音も、周囲の静寂を引き立てている。光と影と音と静寂のコラボレーションが素晴らしい。芸術的であろうとして失敗する作家は多いが、岩井俊二は芸術的であろうとして芸術的な作品を送り出せる稀有な監督である。
未咲の思い出に囚われて前に進むことができなかった鏡史郎が、美咲の仏壇を訪れ、沈黙のうちに語らうシーンは胸が締め付けられるようだ。未咲の暗く、辛い人生の責任の一端が自分にもあるのだと自分を責める鏡史郎の気持ちが手に取るように分かる。これはおっさんにしかできないだろう。10代では到底不可能。20代後半でも無理だろう。そんな不甲斐ない男の魂も最後には救済されることに、落涙した。
思うに手紙というのは、自己内対話なのだ。書きながら読む、読みながら書く。その自己内対話の繰り返しが未咲という小説として結実した。そして今また文通という形で未咲が語られることで、それぞれの人生が動き出す。未咲は生きていたし、今後も未咲は語りかけてくる。なぜなら未咲の思い出は鮎美に受け継がれたから。
Negatives
The biggest gripe I have with this film is that there are a couple of characters whose story arcs were left half-explored, one being that of Yuri’s husband and the other being that of Yuri’s mother in law.
Also, I just didn’t understand why Kyhoshiro never picked up on the difference between the handwriting of the letters. His knowing that Yuri was pretending to be Misaki wasn’t a good explanation, for there were two kinds of letters, those sent by Yuri and those sent by Ayumi. It’s unthinkable that Kyoshiro, a novelist who is into writing stuff with pencils, never noticed the handwriting differences
I wish that the makeup artists could have done a better job. Misaki and Ayumi, both played by Suzu Hirose, and the high school girl Yuri and Soyoka, both played by Nana Mori, matched the description right down to a tee and that caused me some confusion. If they resembled just a little less, the drama revolving around them would have been much more compelling.
ネガティブ・サイド
裕里の義母と夫をめぐる物語にしっかりとして決着（という表現は大げさかもしれないが）をつけてほしかったと思う。裕里はある意味で過去に一区切りをつけて現実に帰っていくわけで、その現実の先にある少々やっかいな夫と義母の姿を見たかったと思うのである。
また鏡史郎が手紙の筆跡の違いに気が付かないことにも納得がいかない。裕里が未咲のふりをしていたと知っていたということは答えにならない。いずれにしても裕里の筆跡と鮎美の筆跡は異なっているはずで、文筆を生業にする者の端くれの鏡史郎がそのことを一顧だにしないのは不自然である。塾かどこかで手書きの作文か小論文を教えているのだから猶更にそう感じる。
メイクアップアーティストの方々がもうひと頑張りして、未咲と鮎美、裕里と颯香をもう少しだけ「似ていない」ように見せてくれたらと思った。そっくりな親子というのは存在するが、これではまるで一卵性双生児である。髪型だけではなく、肌の色や肌質、鼻の形、目尻などはもう少し細工をできたのにと思う。似ていないところを出すことで、似ているところを強調する技法を追求してほしかった。
Recap
This is a well-shot, well-acted and well-directed film. Going back and forth between the past and the present and Miyagi and Tokyo felt like a smooth ride. Retelling the story of a deceased person is kind of a cliché, but the letter correspondence is such an old communication that it’s new today. And when a new story is penned by a director as good as Shunji Iwai in a well thought-out and well-executed manner, you get a masterpiece.
総評
カメラワークが素晴らしく、演技も良い。そしてディレクションにも文句なし。過去と現在、宮城と東京とを行き来する構成にも混乱はなく、スムーズに進行する。亡くなった人物の物語を語ることはクリシェであるが、文通という形を現在に蘇らせたのはユニークである。そして岩井俊二に物語を紡がせれば、傑作が生まれるのである。
