As was mentioned in class, the film adaptation of Norwegian Wood does not set the story in the past as the novel does. I feel that situating this film in the present does a disservice to the base text, as it lessens the impact of music which is stressed in the novel.
Watanabe's reason for recalling the events of his youth in the book is because he hears the song "Norwegian Wood" while on a flight. This singular stimulus which causes him to fully relive his college years in painful detail; I think that Murakami wrote it in this way in order to make a statement about music's immense power. As it was Naoko's favorite song, it became inextricably linked to her identity. Though she was long dead by the time Watanabe was in the plane, the song was able to resurrect her in a sense. Watanabe remembered her from every sensory level (sight, sound, touch, etc.) in vivid detail. Since we can only acknowledge others through our senses, she becomes as alive to him in memory as she ever was. In this way, music links itself to one's identity and keeps a person alive after death.
With this aspect nowhere to be found in the film adaptation, it greatly reduces the impact of the song. Of course, the song does still foreshadow Naoko's death, yet this factor is especially negligible in light of the other songs in the movie's soundtrack. I could be wrong, but I don't believe they ever mention that "Norwegian Wood" is Naoko's favorite song in the film. I just remember Reiko playing it for her and Watanabe with minimal emphasis.
I think that this isn't a bad adaptation of the novel, but they left so much interesting content on the table. I feel like this story would work much better as a miniseries; each chapter or two would make a really great episode if they followed the book as a script. Overall I like the film but it just went by too fast, not taking the time to accurately portray parts of the book that made it great.
-Bruce
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