queries: Love Letter; Itami; databases

[Alan Kita]

I saw a video of Love Letter last summer -- wait, it was only in
Japanese with no subtitles.  I'm sure Hiroko had some sort of emotions
to express at that time, but I'm sure the script did not call for the
words to specific.

In English, most films tend to use English judiciously and an English
writer would use the opportunity for Hiroko to yell something more
pertinent, like, "I'm OK; you're OK," or "I'm OK, who needs you?!"  And
the audience is supposed to pickup the nuances.

In this film, it is not the words that are so important only that Hiroko
is yelling her heart out.  I think I heard something like "o-genki desu
ka?" and its return...but I wouldn't find any deeper meaning in the
choice of words...I think a lot of Japanese without anything really to
yell about would yell these words into an echoing mountains.

It is like English speaking people yelling, "Hello Out There; Anybody
There?!" in echoing mountains (as if to expect an actual answer).

Alan

BTW - I thought the film ended unusually, or abruptly without me wanting
more.  Also, for Kansaijins, many of them I spoke with felt the male
character (forgot his name) was kind of a weak Kansai male, and not the
kind of appealing that would make Kansai women swoon over.  (I supposed
the "real" kansai man may be appealing for Kansai women but probably
make Kanto women sick to their stomachs!!!  ;-)   )


Marie_Suzuki at jpf.go.jp wrote:
> 
> Lisa wrote:
> >Love Letter - I recently watched this highly-recommended film, settling
> >on the laserdisc which has no English subtitles (I could rent a video
> >with Chinese subtitles but that doesn't help me either).  A friend, who
> >saw it two years ago, watched it with me and tried to recall the major
> >points of the plot.  Would anyone on this list remember the gist of what
> >Hiroko yells into the echoing mountains (which is what Itsuki is
> >whispering in her fever)?  We guessed it was something like "I still
> >miss you", but I would like to know.
> 
> I believe what Hiroko said was "Ogenki desuka?  Watashi wa genki desu!"
> I don't quite know how it should be translated.  Literally, it goes like
> "How are you?  I'm doing fine." but then it sounds very dumb.
> 
> When I saw the film in a theater, I thought the yelling was Hiroko's way of
> announcing that she intends to start living her life again, go for a new
> love, although she still cherishes the memory of her former boy friend.
> 
> Anyway, I was rather annoyed by the way the feeling was expressed.  Hiroko
> yelled the same words over and over.  I could hear many people wiping their
> tears, but I could not tune in to it.
> 
> Marie Suzuki