Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Thoughts on Norwegian Wood

As many students have pointed out that even though the adaptation was faithful to the novel, there were many important pieces missing from the movie. I was a lot more attached to the characters in the novel. For example, I could emphasize for Naoko and Reiko because their backstories explained why they are suffering from psychological issues. Without their backstories, I lacked that attachment with the characters in the movie adaptation. I also that the omission of the backstories weakened the plot.

Even though Toru was cheating, the way Murakami wrote out Toru's confession scene is acceptable as romantic. I think that the movie lacked romance, and I can't really see how Toru and Midori's relationship evolved. 

One thing that I really liked from the movie was the Toru's crying scene. All sounds were muted out, and I think it's a powerful cinematic move because when someone is bawling their eyes out, sometimes it comes out soundless. The actor also did a great job at portraying Toru's grief. The corresponding scene in the novel was different and didn't stand out to me as much. A fisherman came to talk to Toru while he was crying. 

-Rose Zheng

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