Norwegian Wood

johnny_ultimate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqiYXmpb41I

Can't wait to see this. Based on the fantastic novel by Haruki Murakami (a huge deal in Japan, and according to the trailer the best selling book ever there!) I'm surprised it's taken this long to get a proper adaptation. There have been fairly few Murakami adaptations (Tony Takitani being based on a short story of his, although admittedly the majority of his stuff is so insane as to border on unfilmable ) so can't wait to see a cinematic adaptation of one of his films. Out in a few days in Japan, but will probably be ages before we get to see it. Now's the time to read the book to get on board, and decide whether you're a Midori or Nakano fan!

Title comes from the Beatles song by the way, and the original soundtrack is by Johnny Greenwood so should be pretty interesting!

Beruthiel

Oooooh. Loved that book!
It will be interesting to see how they translate it to the big screen.

jeffreylebowski

I really love the book, I worry that it might make a bit of a dreary film but I'm definitely excited to see a Murakami novel put on the big screen.

I'd probably rather Wild Sheep Chase or something, but it's still a great book.

Bodhidharma

Fantastic book, will be interesting to see if it has the same atmosphere. Looking forward to checking it out

The Waltzing Consumer

Come on Kafka on the Shore or Wind-Up Bird Chronicle!

Can't wait for this film

johnny_ultimate

The Waltzing Consumer wrote: »

Come on Kafka on the Shore or Wind-Up Bird Chronicle!

Can't wait for this film

Kafka on the Shore is possibly my favourite book ever, but I never want to see a film version of it!

At least Norweigan Wood has something like a traditional narrative, and no scenes with Johnnie Walker ripping the heads of cats :pac:

e_e

I'd love to see a live action version of Hard-Boiled Wonderland & The End of the World.

Even though there was an anime series partially based off it (Haibane Renmei).

johnny_ultimate

I'd been cautious about this after hearing a number of bad reports, but for the most part I liked it, with some reservations.

I liked the casting of Naoko and more so Midori, who for the most part were similar to their novel counterparts. Watanabe was the weak point, just didn't care for him as he mumbled his way through, and made it difficult to buy into his troubles. Similarly, the downsizing of subplots and characters was a shame. But I loved the way it was filmed, captured the nostalgic feel of the story. It flows nicely - after hearing that it was extremely slow I felt it actually moved along pretty quickly. The soundtrack is good but ill-fitting at times I thought - the There Will Be Blood-esque horror track at

Naoko's suicide

felt misjudged particularly.

So some serious issues, and it left out a lot of the stuff that made the book special. Yet there was something almost dreamy about it, the excellent visuals and two fantastic lead female performances sucked me in anyway. If you haven't read the book, stick with that, but while the adaptation isn't a rousing success by any stretch, there's something silently hypnotic about it.

Sad Professor

I really enjoyed this. Not a patch on the book though, or at least not a patch on my memory of the book. As a huge Radiohead fan, I loved the soundtrack, but I agree that it seemed a bit out of place at times.

Oh and it took me a while to find this thread because, ahem, somebody misspelled the title.

constitutionus

never heard of it.

i hope they market it well coz with that name it sounds like a scandenavian porn film !

johnny_ultimate

Sad Professor wrote: »

I really enjoyed this. Not a patch on the book though, or at least not a patch on my memory of the book. As a huge Radiohead fan, I loved the soundtrack, but I agree that it seemed a bit out of place at times.

Oh and it took me a while to find this thread because, ahem, somebody misspelled the title.

What spelling mistake *shifty eyes* :pac:

It definitely isn't as colourful as the book, and was very disappointed with how dumbed down the smaller characters were - Nagasawa was far less important here particularly. I do understand that some things need to be cut though in order to make a film that works, it's always distressing when you see something you like about a book culled though. It reminded me of Let the Right One in adaptation wise - focus on one strand of the story, and make something haunting and engaging out of that. It as a result loses some of the complexities of the book, but carves a welcome identity of its own. Still think the weak characterisation of Watanabe was a big flaw though.

And speaking of porn, and at the risk of sounding slightly perverse :pac::

I admired how they handled the sex scenes here - awkward and subtle. It actually fitted well with the honest sexuality and tone of the book (and Murakami's work in general) and nice to see it carefully handled here.

DonnieScribbles

The Radiohead connection to this film is quite funny because you could say that Norwegian Wood is Murakami's Pablo Honey :pac: He was somewhat embarrassed by the success of it, fleeing Japan on the back of it apparently! It is his weakest novel, well I think it is, especially in comparison with The Wind Up Bird Chronicle and Hard Boiled Wonderland...

That's why the film adaptation doesn't really work, I think. If the characters are thinly drawn it's because that's how they are in the source material. Watanabe comes across as absent in the film, but for a book with a first person narrative he seems peculiarly absent in that too. Naoko is irritating in the book and she also is in the film.

Yes, something horrible happened to her but it is hard to feel sympathy for a character that does nothing but whinge. 'What if I never get turned on?' Why should I care? Her 'torment' is pushed too much, if it was played back a little it may be easier to sympathise with her.

I thought the scene

where Watanabe, Nagasawa and his girlfriend are at dinner was well done, it had palpable bitterness, and it was one of the scenes in the book that I liked also.

Visually, it's beautiful, some of the landscape shots were stunning.

I thought the slow pace of its editing worked in its favour.

It's also excellent as a period piece, with the costume and music, though Murakami has been criticised for painting a too westernised picture of Japan and this is somewhat visible in the film.

I liked the music, but mainly the tracks from the German band Can. Some of the distorted string pieces when

Watanabe is grieving for Naoko really wrecked my head, though I guess that's the point, the violence of losing someone, etc.

Well, I think that's the summation what I thought of the film, sorry, just watched it last night!