Reviews of Norwegian Wood 2010
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Sublime cinematography and a neat visualization of my favourite novel of all times. Indeed this is a solid adaptation, and a personal interpretation of what feelings Tran Anh Hung has towards the themes of loss, isolation, sexuality and love. You have to respect that, and I think he succeeds. Sure, I personally thinks he makes some directional choices that weaken the film, but overall it works.
The book and the film, even though they are similar in plot and themes…
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As a fan of Murakami's writing I was heading into this film with equal parts excitement and trepidation, but was ultimately left wanting. While the film can be quite beautiful (using colour, location and music to great effect) the characters seem to have been whittled down to only a shell of their novel counterparts — most notably so when it came to Midori and Reiko.
The actors give great performances, and the soundtrack is certainly interesting (scored by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead fame), but in the end I felt no empathy for any of the characters.
Sad trombone :(
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From what I can gather, a lot of the negative buzz around this comes from people who are big fans of the novel. As a subliterate thug though, I thought this was pretty great. The film-making is so rapturous and the characters are so resonant and honest, even though I usually don't connect with movies about twenty-somethings sleeping with each other. It sort of takes a turn into histrionics at the end, but overall a great movie. The sequence in the tall grass between Watanabe and Naoko has instantly become one of my favorite long-take tracking shots.
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Norwegian Wood is the only Murakami novel I have read so far and I remember finding it very delicate, haunting, a feeling that stayed with me in the days that followed. The film barely touches on that magical poignancy, but if I had not read the novel I may be more keen on this. I will say that it is beautifully shot and elegantly performed.
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Originally published on October 25, 2011.
I have not seen either of filmmaker Anh Hung Tran’s famed works from the 1990s, The Scent of Green Papaya and Cyclo, but based on Norwegian Wood, I need to play catch-up very soon. Adapted from a novel by the legendary Haruki Murakami, whose work has long been considered un-filmable, the movie’s narrative isn’t the most cohesive, nor does it conjure up a conventional interest in the outcome. But viewed as a series of…
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Tran Anh Hung’s adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s breakthrough novel has both the courage and the sense to not just act out the story on screen, but to translate it to cinematic language, filtering Murakami’s much-beloved prose and entrusting the bulk of the narrative’s emotional engagement to Tran’s imagery. Spectacular imagery it is too, Tran’s use of snowfall in his landscapes calling to mind the work of Park Chan-Wook in the Vengeance Trilogy. The story of a young man torn between…
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It is a shame that any conversations about Anh Hung Tran's film have been framed revolving around Murakami's book. When a popular and beloved piece of literature is adapted that is always going to be the focal point, but when taken on it's own merits Anh Hung Tran's film is very successful. He still runs into the primary pitfall most literary film adaptions tend to befall, being too beholden to the plot that some things aren't as developed as fully…
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Go into this film expecting a Tran Anh Hung film, not a Murakami film, and you'll enjoy it a lot more. It's much more minimal than Murakami's book, and even at 2+ hours it feels too short, skipping over parts you would love to see more of. But it's beautifully shot, the actors are perfect, and the story still shines through, though in a different tone than the book.
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If only the clever foreshadowing of this story as Greek tragedy hadn't been so subtle and instead had yelled "GET OUT NOW WHILE YOU CAN STILL CATCH THAT NEW WOODY ALLEN COMEDY IN THE THEATRE NEXT DOOR!". The things we endure for love.
If you're feeling a little morose, this film needs to come with a health warning. And a melodramatic-use-of-orchestral-string warning too.
The cinematography and scenery however is beautiful. Except when it pixelates due to the shitty digital screening…