Love Letters

This movie was so intriguing from the moment I began to watch it, as I lay in bed trying to fall asleep, that I could not close my eyes. The method used in telling this story was new and unusual and it grabbed me from the start, and I could not turn it off. I was captivated. I wanted to see how it all came about and where it would end. I began to wonder how many others would relate to this story especially with the advent of email letters. I know there are those who live by and are attached to another's consistent words. It certainly hit home to me as to how a love can be so far removed from our own daily life, and how easy we can eliminate those you probably should have loved. Who would have thought such diverse emotions would have accompanied this movie. I have always enjoyed Laura Linney, but this movie made her a favorite for me, as well as Steven Weber. Their acting was superb. To me the movie was intense, very touching, and so eloquently done that I did not want it to end.

I was staying in a hotel in Beijing and found only one English channel. This movie was on and I watched until the end.

My pillow was wet.

Most made for TV movies don't appeal to me. They are usually too dramatic. Especially the ones about someone with a terminal illness.They milk the sympathy as much as possible to the point where you can hardly wait for the sick person in question to hurry up and die. Sounds terrible, but they fill the entire three hours with as much sap as they possibly can.

Love Letters was NOT one of those movies. It was just a remarkably poignant movie about Love and friendship that pulls those heartstrings in a completely non-manipulative way.

It was surprisingly beautiful, but I never knew what it was called until now. I just remembered the guy from Wings.

I've searched for a few years and finally found it here.

Now if only I could see it again.

I work at home with the TV on. I usually just listen to whatever movie is playing but when this movie started, I tried to work at first glancing once in a while on the screen. But as the movie wore on, I just had to stop work and just sit in front of the TV so as not to miss anything. By the end if it I was shedding tears. I found this to be a truly moving movie and I can't wait to see it again. Steve Weber and Laura Linney put in tremendously subtle yet passionate performances that I've put them in my mental list of actors/actresses to watch from now on.

I saw this movie as a morning feature on private cable, and to inform myself I read the comments on IMDB, which do not serve the movie well. True, it is a bit quirky at times, which one can obviously trace back to it being made for cable, but all in all it was damn capturing and very innovative. The way the whole love- and life story of the two very different characters unfolds in the single room of a private office, is quite unusual and striking at times. Laura Linney, one of the best and most subtle actresses working at the moment, portrays all the guilt and shame and anger of a life gone awry, of pain drenched in alcohol, while Steven Weber, a little pale next to her boosting energy, does quite well in showing a man who has to keep his life in control, even though his heart cries out for his life-long best friend and the love of his life. I mean, this really is not a waste of time! And its not like watching a play on TV, its like watching a relationship, unfolding in all its little twists and turns and complications, changing and dwindling in time. Absolutely recommendable.

I stumbled across Love Letters on TV one morning and was immediately struck by the clever way in which its done. Re-reading all their old letters, delving into their past, reliving their history. How many of us havent done that? I was spellbound and stayed glued to the screen to the end. The film is so clever. It does stay in one place, rarely straying from the room, and some will find this boring, but have we lost all imagination that we have to have endless action and moving about to stay entertained? The story and the way the two characters relate to one another, weaving in and out of each others lives, is a masterpiece; and I am disappointed it never made it to the big screens (too boring hah?);- I would like to have bought it on video. (and DVD) I suppose in a sense it is like Steel Magnolias, but whereas that *can* be slow, and certainly sentimental, Love Letters, is sharp and unfussy. I only wish the years didnt pass by so quickly. Laura Linney is now my favourite actress, and I leap to record Love Letters each time it appears on TV (just in case!);- even the most unemotional of viewers will find something to appreciate.