NORWEGIAN WOOD - MIFF 2011

Based on the popular novel by Haruki Murakami of the same name, “Norwegian Wood” is the latest film by French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung.  An interesting thing about this film is that people who have read the book tend to hate the movie and feel it hasn’t captured its essence at all, while those who haven’t read it seem to find it a much more rewarding experience.  Although I haven’t read the book (what a shock, hey?), what I understand to be the problem is that it is written as a nostalgia piece, it’s a character looking back to certain events that happened in his life and in Japan during the late 60’s and is reflecting upon them.  The film however is different as we are witness to the events as they happen to the characters, meaning there is no chance for reflection.  Another problem people have is that it is like a cliff’s notes version of the story. 

To quote the festival guide “Norwegian Wood is a dark and strikingly haunted film about love and loss”.  At the start of the film we are introduced to three characters, Kizuki and Naoko who are a couple, and Kazumi’s best friend Watanabe (who is the main character of the film).  No sooner are we introduced to them, than Kazumi ends up committing suicide.  It is this moment that haunts the rest of the film but unfortunately because we never had the time to get to know Kizuki, the impact of his death (for the audience) is diminished considerably.  This I feel is the film’s biggest flaw, we needed to know Kizuki before he takes his own life so we can understand the ramifications that follow.  As it is Naoko is shattered and starts to fall into a deep depression until she is institutionalized.  Watanabe, who also loves Naoko, feels the burden of his friend’s suicide and decides that he also cannot abandon Naoko during her time of need.  He basically puts his life on hold, waiting for a time when Naoko is healed and they can be together.  The complex relationship between these two is the crux of the film.  While there is definitely love between the two of them, the ghost of Kizuki (figuratively speaking) stops anything from developing in earnest.  They just cannot seem to escape the tragedy of the past, which ultimately destroys any future the two may have had together.  During this time, Watanabe meets another young girl named Midori.  She is the complete opposite of Naoko in that she is bubbly and full of life and just wants to live in the moment and enjoy herself, and although she already has a boyfriend of her own, it is quite clear that she wants a relationship with Watanabe.  Although he does become great friends with Midori, he sacrifices happiness with this girl, due to his dedication and feelings towards Naoko.

This is such a sad film, as all of the characters appear to be in constant pain and it seems like there is no way they will escape their pain.  Even Midori reveals later in the film that she is dealing with heartache.  While it does ultimately end on an optimistic note, the film has an atmosphere of doom surrounding it.  The film also doesn’t seem to be very focused at times, with new characters just appearing out of the blue (making them very hard to relate to) and I found that the feeling of time was hard to get a handle on.  At one point Watanabe explains to Midori that he has only visited Naoko twice, but from the way these visits have been presented to us, I was sure that it had been around five or six times.  I don’t know, maybe it was just me that was confused.  I also didn’t think Johnny Greenwood’s music was very good for the film either.

I am a big fan of director Tran Anh Hung however his previous film “I Come With The Rain” was a major disappointment (it is a film he has disowned due to the producers finishing it without his involvement, and thus destroying his vision), and while “Norwegian Wood” is a massive step up from that film, it just doesn’t reach the heights of his gorgeous Vietnam trilogy which consisted of “The Scent Of Green Papaya”, “Cyclo” and “The Vertical Ray Of The Sun”, and as such is also slightly disappointing.  I understand that he is trying to branch out and do different things, but I would love for him to go back and do another of those sumptuous Vietnamese dramas.  Like all of Tran Anh Hung’s films though, “Norwegian Wood” is stunning to look at and Mark Lee Ping-Bin’s cinematography is gorgeous as always.  While I haven’t mentioned any of the performances of “Norwegian Wood” (all are very good), I just wanted to single out Eriko Hatsune’s performance as Hatsumi.  She is only a relatively minor character in the film (Hatsumi is the girlfriend of one of Watanabe’s womanizing college pals), but she is stunning and just lights up the film whenever she is on screen.  She has a fantastic moment around a dinner table when they are entertaining Watanabe one night.  Personally this scene is the highlight of the film for me.

Finally, I just want to point out that I missed Tran’s gorgeous wife, Tran Nu Yen-Khe,  not being in “Norwegian Wood” (it’s the first film of her husband’s that she hasn’t been in), but there was obviously not a place for her in this film.

3.5 Stars.