ノルウェイーの森

I finally went to see ノルウェイーの森 after many months of anticipation and here’s my take on it - well, from what I could understand anyway. I watched it all in Japanese (without subtitles) and I have to admit, I probably understood less than half of what was being said. So, my review here is really just a small take on a much bigger picture.

For a filmmaker, to turn an internationally acclaimed novel into a feature length film that is both true to the story, entertaining as a movie, and is less than 3 hours long, is perhaps the one thing that can never be done to perfection. That being said, there are some excellent movies out there that have tried and gotten close when adapting print to screen, but sadly, this movie is not one of them. I liked the movie, but somehow it didn’t quite work for me.

Let me start with the good parts though. The imagery, setting, and location were almost exactly how I had imagined them when I first read the story. From the cramped, dank-style dorm room to the sprawling hills of Hokkaido (although many of the scenes were filmed in Hyogo), the director, Vietnamese-French Tranh Ahn Hung, who has obviously read this book many times, took a story full of lush, dynamic settings and re-presented them on screen in such a poetic and brilliant way that no details felt left out. I’m sure that anyone who has read a Murakami book will appreciate the attention placed on the mise-en-scene. Of course, the cinematography had the biggest hand in this. Mark Lee Ping Bin captured brilliant moments of nature, chaos, and mood from beginning to end and there was not a moment I did not enjoy taking in. Also the stylish sets and costumes set the mood of a story deeply rooted in 1960’s culture.

The movie was well-casted. Of course the main actor and actress were very good and managed to fulfill some very big roles. But, it was the supporting actors who really brought the film and story to life. I particularly liked the inwardly sad yet outwardly beautiful girlfriend of Nagasawa, Hatsumi, played by Eriko Hatsune. Although her part was very limited in the movie, she managed to carry an entire scene by herself through strength of character, dead-set expression, and graceful movement. Another favorite was the part of Reiko - the music teacher and friend of Naoko - played by Reika Kirishima. For me, an actor or actress’s look and expression are, in a way, more important than their lines, and Kirishima really caught a moment for me when she was in the shower, looking at herself in the mirror.

Now for the bad parts. The script, while much of it stayed true to the story, felt more like an assortment of vignettes or snippets that seemed disjointed and carelessly placed, rather than a flowing narrative. In writing, this style can be interesting for a reader. In film, this style, if not neatly tied up in the end, can lead the viewer to thinking that the editing is not consistent or that there is something missing along the way, leaving a kind of empty or half-finished feeling. I think the problem was that the director placed too much trust in the fact that his audience would be people who know the story. Of course, many of them are huge fans of Murakami and know some of the scenes and words by heart (myself included). However, for those who have never read the book, if they were to see this movie, I think they would feel left out and lost by a story that is so inclusive of memory, emotion, and feeling. It’s kind of like listening to two friends talk about a shared memory that you didn’t experience but they are trying to include you on. Many of the scenes in ノルウェイーの森 worked as independently written moments but, when translated to script, felt unclear and without direction. I think part of this has to do with the translation and re-translation of story and script.

Apparently, Tranh, who wrote and directed the film, originally wrote the script in French (and I’m assuming he probably also read the French translation of the story). The script was then translated back to Japanese and filmed in Japanese. I have a feeling that along the way of going from Japanese to French back to Japanese, some meaning got lost in the translation. If you’ve ever read one of his books, you know that Murakami’s style is both simple yet profoundly deep. This is, I believe, inherent to the Japanese language. In French however, especially French writing and movies, the focus is more on the profoundly deep part with little regard to the simple. It felt like parts of the movie were too convoluted and a little contrived. This is difficult for me to accurately judge because I couldn’t fully understand what was being said, but I think somehow, if this were made into a French film keeping a focus on rather long, dramatic pauses and moments of enoui, it would work better than in Japanese. Japanese is as much as about not saying as it is about saying. I think the speaking at times was just too much and felt too forced.

Finally, I have to say I did not care for the music. While I love the original Beatles tune and much of the music of the 1960’s, I didn’t care for the cover band singles nor for the overly dramatic orchestra pieces in the soundtrack. It just didn’t suit me. Murakami places a lot of emphasis on music in his writing, so naturally a movie adaptation should place an equal amount of emphasis on the soundtrack. But, for some reason, it just didn’t strike the right chord with me (no pun intended). I did really enjoy the solo guitar piece and of course the cover of Norwegian wood. So it wasn’t all bad.

Well, as I said before, I only understood a small part of ノルウェイーの森. Perhaps if I watch it again with subtitles I’ll appreciate it more and maybe come to understand some of the parts I didn’t agree with. I guess I can’t fairly critique a movie when I don’t know all that’s going on. But, I did enjoy it for what it is and I’ll probably watch it again. For me, it’s a good stepping stone to continue my study of Japanese. Just like the first time I read ‘Norwegian Wood’, this movie has rekindled my interest in Japan.