Movie Review – Norwegian Wood (2012) (Unrated)
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Movie Review – Norwegian Wood (2012) (Unrated)

A somber coming-of-age drama

norway wood he is dreamy, unfocused, and unreasonably slow. These are characters so stern and unpleasant that investing in them requires nothing less than sheer force of will. Each of them is in such emotionally complicated relationships that we never see a connection process at work; we can only marvel at the fact that these people have somehow found their way into the lives of others. Not only do we not understand their reasons for being together, but based on what unfolds, no one is better for it. Here’s a coming-of-age drama so confusing and unnecessarily drawn out that we’re looking forward to the moment when the hero finally grows up, which, in this case, has nothing to do with witnessing a beautiful act of transition and everything to do with with ending two miserable hours sitting in a theater.

Adapted from Haruki Murakamki’s novel, the film has been structured by writer-director Tran Anh Hung in the most curious way, namely by having each scene play out as the ending. When you have a movie full of endings, you’ll inevitably invite speculation about how it all started, and it’s incredibly unfair to deprive the audience of answers. Some scenes are just awkward in their length, pacing, and exploration of characters that have nothing to do with the central plot. It’s almost as if editor Mario Battistel had randomly spliced ​​together clips from a completely different movie, perhaps because he was feeling a bit mischievous and wanted to steer the audience off the narrow path to follow. If that was his intention, he got it. This story doesn’t take us anywhere in particular, except in circles.

It takes place in Japan in the late 1960s, the era of the Vietnam War and a time of great social unrest. One would think that given this rich history, the filmmakers would really make it part of the plot. But no, the story boils down to a handful of brief shots, all of disorganized student protests that immediately fade into the background. Because it’s barely a backdrop for a soapy tale of love and loss, this movie could have taken place anywhere, anytime. It is told from the point of view of Toru Watanabe (Ken’ichi Matsuyama), a nineteen-year-old who moves to Tokyo and enters university after the inexplicable suicide of his childhood best friend, Kizuki ( Kengo Kora). Why this is left unexplained, I have no idea. I, for one, would have appreciated knowing what made Kizuki so unhappy that he felt the need to poison himself with the exhaust from his own car.

Toru forms something of a relationship with Kizuki’s girlfriend, Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi), who has also known him since childhood. Since her death, she has not only fallen into a deep depression, but has also lost all trace of her sexuality. She will make repeated attempts to find him throughout the film, initially by giving herself to Toru on the night of her 20th birthday, the rest of the time through sexual advances that she initiates herself. Unfortunately, he is in vain; she is unable to feel anything physically, while emotionally she withdraws more into herself. Her mental state has led her to a sanitarium buried in the forested mountains of Kyoto. She used the word “sanitarium” loosely, since it’s not meant to look like it. In any case, it is presented as a spiritual retreat for those with musical inclinations.

Toru occasionally visits Naoko and even exchanges letters with her. He might even feel something of hers for her, although you would never know it by looking at him; As Toru, Matsuyama delivers a performance so statuesque and soft-spoken that an emotion never jumps off the screen. Regardless, Toru finds himself torn between Naoko and one of her classmates, a young woman named Midori (Kiko Mizuhara), similarly soft-spoken but much more outgoing. At times, she has developed to the point of weirdness, and if you watch the scene where she calls Toru after her father’s death, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. The worst thing about this character is that his interest in Toru stems from not making anything clear to the audience; she, like everyone else in this movie, has no clear purpose other than doing and saying mean things.

Despite the characters, plot, structure, and performances, the connection might have been possible had it not been for the horrendous soundtrack. For one thing, we have sleep-inducing samples of folk rock hits from the era, including the Beatles song from which the film’s title derives. On the other hand, we have Jonny Greenwood’s score, which is made up of depressing and emotionally manipulative violin dirges. Most of it plays out during the second half of the film, at which point the story goes from solemn to downright devastating. Listening to both the score and the songs, one wonders if anyone involved in the film has ever laughed, or even if he knows what it’s like to laugh. For movies like norway woodjoy and happiness are treated as foreign concepts that get lost in translation.

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