Norwegian Wood Movie Reflection

Upon watching the film version of Norwegian Wood, there are some aspects of the film that I enjoyed and there are some that I didn't. On the positives, I thoroughly enjoyed the cinematography. I thought that the film was beautifully shot. There are some camera angles and pans that I liked from an artistic perspective. One vivid scene was when Kizuki committed suicide in the car. The color scheme reminded me of Wong Kar-Wai's Hong Kong films which oftentimes employ all warm colors or all cold colors in one shot to fill the entire screen. I think the colors and the smoke really worked to create the feeling of hellish suffocation but also peaceful Nirvana. Another scene that I really enjoyed cinematically was the snow mountain scene with Toru and Naoko. I thought the stillness of each shot in that scene which was slower and more steady than other scenes represented an important, reflective moment in the plot line. A similar background against the snow and shot (mostly still with a slow zoom in) was used for Toru and Midori's conversation, creating a parallel between the two women who Toru is involved with. Additionally, for the most part, I believe that the characters/actors/actresses were pretty well-chosen (with the exception of Reiko). Toru was depicted plain, innocent-looking student whereas Nagasawa was clearly represented as a playboy type with slick-hair. Naoko was depicted as very slim, weak, and soft-spoken whereas Midori was more playful (although I envisioned her to be more provocative). Hatsumi was fitting in the film and Storm Trooper in the film really brought the writing to life. Overall, I thought the character selection was great. Reiko really did not fit my perception of the character after reading the book. I had a disconnect because not only did the film not mention her disturbing backstory with the 13-year-old girl but I felt like the actress did not encapsulate the unsettling, worn-down feeling the character. 

In terms of things that I did not enjoy as much, I felt like the scenes did not particularly encapsulate the same essence from the book. For example, I was incredibly disturbed by the sex scene with Naoko and Toru. Although Murakami uses sexual intercourse in quite interesting ways in his works, the particular one portrayed in the film took away some of the deeper feelings that the characters had developed for each other. Each scene was short and abrupt. They certainly didn't capture the deeper, meandering progression of Murakami's writing that is more reflective and lingering in the readers' minds. In the ending scene, in between Reiko and Toru's sex and Toru walking Reiko to the station for departure, there is a short transitional scene. After Reiko and Toru's sex, the scene cuts to Toru sitting on a tree branch. The camera then pans to Naoko leaning onto a scene and then slowly to Reiko next to the tree, kneeling by the water. When reading the book, I didn't give too much thought to Reiko and her connection to Toru. I thought the ending sex was just a coping mechanism for both people over the loss of a common friend (a relatively straight-forward and naive interpretation). But this transitional scene linking the three people together made me question if there is actually some deeper and darker interpretation between the relationship of Reiko, Toru, and Naoko. 

Yiqin Zhang