Emma's post

I thought the film adaptation of Norwegian Wood was quite good. I think Anh Hung Tran is a fantastic director and captured the energy of the novel very well. The relationship between Naoko and Toru was I think very accurately depicted and I was surprised to see Naoko’s character come to life in a way that fit the way that I imagined her. With Toru as well, I think that his character seemed very accurately representative of the way that I imagined him to be. I think that this movie however, only can really capture how the novel comes across to a viewer who has previously read the novel. Though the characters and themes may not come across 100% to someone who hasn't read the book I think for the former the essence is there and it comes across quite well. I think reasonably, the relationship between Toru and Midori is difficult to depict fully due to the focus on Naoko but the condensed version of their relationship fits fairly well with the rest of the film. That being said, Midori was much more subdued in thai portrayal than I imagined her, but perhaps I was imagining more of an Americanized version of her vulgarity and extroversion. I did not really consider how the character’s interactions would transfer and present differently in the context of 1970s Japan, but it did make me think a lot about how descriptions of characters in this way can be interpreted differently across cultures. Overall I thought that the cinematography of the film was incredible and the incorporation of nature paired with themes of isolation were done very well. I was especially impressed with the scenes after Naoko’s death where Toru is shown camping by the shore. Tran did a wonderful job of showing the profound agony of loss and the unrelenting nature of the cycle of life with the imagery of the tide and sea. My only complaint would be that the mixing of the soundtrack was a bit jarring at times and got really loud but other than that I would absolutely watch this movie again.