[Review] Norwegian Wood

[aikokanzaki]

• Movie: Norwegian Wood
• Romaji: Noruwei no mori
• Japanese: ノルウェイの森
• Director: Anh Hung Tran
• Writer: Haruki Murakami (novel), Anh Hung Tran
• Producer: Chihiro Kameyama, Shinji Ogawa
• Cinematographer: Pin Bing Lee
• World Premiere: September 2, 2010 (Venice Film Festival)
• Release Date: December 11, 2010
• Runtime: 128 min.
• Production Company: Asmik Ace Entertainment, Toho, Fuji TV
• Distributor: Asmik Ace Entertainment
• Language: Japanese
• Country: Japan

Synopsis

Set in the 1960's, high school student Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) loses his only friend Kizuki (Kengo Kora) after he commits suicide. Toru, now looking for a new life, enters a university in Tokyo. By chance, Toru meets Kizuki's ex-girlfriend Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi) in the university. They grow close because they both share the same loss.

As Toru and Naoko grow even closer, Naoko's sense of loss also grows. After Naoko's 20th birthday, she leaves for a sanitarium in Kyoto. Watanabe, devastated by the situation, meets pure-hearted Midori (Kiko Mizuhara) during the spring semester. Midori looks like a small animal that just came into the world ...

Cast

• Ken'ichi Matsuyama as Watanabe
• Rinko Kikuchi as Naoko
• Kiko Mizuhara as Midori
• Tetsuji Tamayama as Nagasawa
• Kengo Kora as Kizuki
• Reika Kirishima as Reiko Ishida
• Eriko Hatsune as Hatsumi
• Shigesato Itoi as the Professor
• Haruomi Hosono as the Record Shop Manager
• Yukihiro Takahashi as the Gatekeeper

Opinion

A big serious; what the fuck have I just waste 2hrs13minutes on?! It was like a cinematic porn! The main character was having sex with a different woman almost every 20minutes! I watched this film with my classmates as we had to for our Japanese studies << wish the teacher had warned us beforehand because... it was like watching a cinematic porn seriously! Plus the acting was VERY shocking on the actresses sides << they can't cry for shit! Also they spoke of sex THROUGHOUT the movie so us being like 18,19,20 years old and mainly male, all wet ourselves through out and totally didn't take it seriously because we just didn't expect what we got!
On the plus side?
The cinematography; camera angles, colouring, abrupt use of music, camera shots, shadowing, editing, all beautiful. Just.. little less sex and explain it more please?
My theory is that he died because he was in love with Watanabe... but you'll see why I think this if you ever see the film.