Letter from the Mountain
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Current user rating: 100/100 (2 votes)
Profile
- Movie: Letter from the Mountain
- Romaji: Amida-do dayori
- Japanese: 阿弥陀堂だより
- Director: Takashi Koizumi
- Writer: Takashi Koizumi, Keishi Nagi (novel)
- Producer: Miyako Araki
- Cinematographer: Masaharu Ueda
- Release Date: October 5, 2002
- Runtime: 128 min.
- Studio: Asmik Ace Entertainment
- Distributor: Toho
- Language: Japanese
- Country: Japan
Plot
As the film begins, Takao (Akira Terao) and Michiko (Kanako Higuchi) have already pulled up their Tokyo roots and moved to a village that is Takao's ancestral home. They visit a thatched cottage that serves as a memorial shrine (amidado) for the village dead and chat with the attendant, the spry 96-year-old Oume (Tanie Kitabayashi). Together they admire the view -- from an inspiring distance. Oume, it turns out, is a kind of sage, whose thoughts and observations are a popular feature in a column in a local newsletter. Her amanuensis is a mute, sweetly smiling young woman named Sayuri (Manami Konishi), who is as devoted to Oume as Oume is to the souls of her beloved dead.
Takao also reunites with Koda-sensei (Takahiro Tamura), his beloved junior high-school teacher, now retired, who spends his day beating the futon with his wooden sword or practicing calligraphy in his tastefully decorated Japanese-style house, overlooking a picture-perfect Japanese garden. He and his devoted wife, Yone (Kyoko Kagawa), are always dressed elegantly in Japanese-style clothes and never touch anything electronic.
When they are not interacting with these and other villagers -- wonderful folks all -- Takao and Michiko take restful walks in the woods (with Michiko stopping once to ecstatically hug a tree), potter around their house (which has been in Takao's family for ages) and otherwise soothe away stress. Michiko makes a miraculous recovery from the panic attacks that drove her from her research work at a major Tokyo hospital, while Takao thinks about writing again, after selling nothing for years. -- Japan Times
Cast
- Akira Terao - Takao Ueda
- Kanako Higuchi - Michiko Ueda
- Shoji Arano
- Hisashi Igawa - Sayuri's father
- Kyoko Kagawa
- Tanie Kitabayashi - Oume
- Manami Konishi - Sayuri
- Yasuhiko Naito
- Yoko Shioya - Tanabe
- Takahiro Tamura - Shigenaga Koda
- Hidetaka Yoshioka - Dr. Nakamura
Awards
- 2003 (26th) Japan Academy Prize - March 7, 2003
- "Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role" (Tanie Kitabayashi)
- "Rookie of the Year" (Manami Konishi)
- 2002 (45th) Blue Ribbon Awards - February 18, 2003
- "Best Newcomer" (Manami Konishi)
