There may be four attitudes regarding the movie adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s novel Norwegian Wood.
1) I do not know Haruki Murakami and won’t watch the movie because I’m not interested in it.
2) I won’t watch the movie because I already have a fixed vision of Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood.
3) I have not read Haruki Murakami’s book, so I will watch it instead of reading it.
4) I do not want to watch the movie because I have a fixed vision of Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood, but feel like something is not finished if I don’t watch it (sigh), so I will try to watch it.
In the end, people of 3) and 4) go to the movie theatre, but people of 3) will think, “Hmm, Murakami is way overrated…” while people of 4) will hang their heads and think, “That was as bad as I feared.” My honest impression is that highly ambitious director Tran Anh Hung wants a place in the international film world and he used Murakami’s name with this movie to be recognized by an international audience. Therefore, Naoko’s part had to be played by Japan’s best-known actress, Rinko Kikuchi, and she had to have a lot of screen time until the end.
Because ardent readers of Murakami already create an image of each character in their own mind before watching the movie, casting must be difficult. However, one reason that this movie disappointed the audience was that Rinko Kikuchi played the part of Naoko. It’s not because Rinko Kikuchi is a bad actress. To make my point clear, here is an extreme example: it would be like casting middle-aged Haruko Sugimura or Kirin Kiki to play Naoko simply because they are top actresses. Although Rinko Kikuchi is younger, it is still impossible to have Kikuchi who’s in her thirties play Naoko who’s a teenager. It’s only a little more than ten years, but this age difference is fatal in Norwegian Wood. Also, Rinko Kikuchi is a go-getter and a strong-willed person, while Naoko is as vulnerable as pure white, soft snow that melts in front of your eyes without a trace. Kikuchi and Naoko have completely different temperaments.
Secondly, Reiko’s depiction is totally incorrect. There is not a female protagonist in the original novel. (Naoko is not the protagonist). However, in the original novel, Reiko is a profound influence on the main character Watanabe and an extremely important character; among the female characters, the reader may have the most affinity towards Reiko when reading the novel. Her life is tragic in some regard, but she doesn’t forsake Naoko until the end and she is the one who warm-heartedly maintains the connection between Naoko and Watanabe; but in the movie, she is depicted in a way that makes me think, “Why is this person here?” The letter that Reiko writes Watanabe in the novel is beautiful. Completely ignoring the novel, Reiko is depicted as some incomprehensible, weird lady.
The world of the novel Norwegian Wood to me is, in a few words, a big rectangle in a spacious field. Naoko is in the upper right corner. Midori is in the lower left corner. A long path extends from Naoko’s position, and Watanabe slowly walks on it with Reiko. A river flows parallel to this path and Hatsumi stands on the opposite bank of the path Reiko is walking on; Watanabe watches Hatsumi from a distance as he walks. Then Midori is waiting at the end of the long walk. Reiko gently pushes Watanabe’s back and gives him courage to cross the river. The flow of the river is violent, but Nagasawa lightly floats along like a waterfowl without being washed away. Then Watanabe approaches to greet Nagasawa, and Nagasawa says, “Cross the river. What are you waiting for? Take care,” as he gently floats down the river.
In a sense, this movie is a “rite of passage” story. Depending on the person, it may be called “the loss of youth” or perhaps “the coming of age.” Nagasawa has this maturity. Like the surgeon in the Czech movie The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Nagasawa understands the difference between love and sex in a realistic way; Nagasawa doesn’t care for those who stubbornly hold onto romantic ideals. Nagasawa has his beliefs, but does not blame others for having different opinions, and he does not make excuses or pity himself. In this movie, his true essence wasn’t depicted at all, and he was drawn simply as an arrogant man.
Midori is a girl who naturally possesses maturity within her. Her life was not easy at all, but she doesn’t pity herself and she holds herself up with two strong legs to keep on living. She never shows it off, but Watanabe picks up on it. Watanabe was taken aback by Midori’s unexpected strength and he finds himself falling in love with her. The movie does not depict this unexpectedness at all. To be honest, in the movie, Naoko repeats, “I got wet!” and Reiko abruptly says to Watanabe, “Sleep with me!” as if crazed for sex, while Midori whines, “Pretty please take me to an indecent movie.” I was really disappointed that all the important female characters were drawn with an excessive desire for sex. In the novel, sex has an important role, but it is just in the background, part of a more important story. It is not shown this way in the movie.
Reiko, like Hatsumi and Naoko, has an “obsessive” mind, but she is determined to get rid of this sense of fixation. In the movie, the actress who plays Reiko sings the Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood,” but I was surprised by how bad it was. Regardless of the skill level of her as a singer, the issue was that there was no heart in the song.
The original Norwegian Wood is the story of Watanabe crossing the river. However, this journey was not easy. He may think he must give up this beautiful shore in order to cross the river, and it feels like he must give up himself. Also, he must abandon his “sense of responsibility” to cross the river. For Watanabe, his “sense of responsibility” is not as simple as the one in an adult society of “doing your duty and keeping promises.” His version of responsibility is what makes him himself and if he abandons it, he thinks he is abandoning what is the most important to him. However, in the end, Watanabe probably crossed the river. It is implied at the beginning of the novel. But the movie does not touch on this at all.
To say it briefly, this movie cuts all the details needed in order to present the original novel’s essence, and adds unnecessary scenes. The images were fairly beautiful, but it cannot be a good movie with this alone.