La ballade de l'impossible

I wasn't expecting too much, but the problem with this film is that it's basically just a heavily butchered-down version of the book. It's too short for its own good, and because of that you never begin to feel anything for what happens to the characters. Usually I'm not too interested in caring for the characters, but with a film like this it's all too important. It's like the director was trying to fit a 4-hour film into a 2-hour version. Now, it could have worked perfectly fine as a 2-hour version if the director had chosen to present the story in a different way. But as it is now, it's like watching the whole story from the book being fast-forwarded, while you get to see a few random scenes in it's entirety.

Readers of the book will be disappointed because the characters feels too shallow and underdeveloped, while general viewers will leave the cinemas with a big question mark. I won't begin to mention all those small bits of information in the film that are never explained unless you happened to have read the book. That's OK with me by all means, since I have read the book, but either way neither party should be pleased with the film.

Based upon the novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung boldly translates the story to the big screen with a cast of familiar faces in Kenichi Matsuyama and Rinko Kikuchi in lead roles, but somehow this attempt seemed to float along rather casually into a typical tale of a love triangle, loss and sexuality without much emotional depth. Set in the late 1960s in Japan with a whole host of student turmoil, this aspect of the story got shelved aside to focus more on the personal coming of age tale of Toru Watanabe (Matsumaya) and the women in his life.

So putting aside the various one night stands he benefited from hanging out with casanova Nagasawa (Tetsuji Tamayama), Watanabe has to choose between Naoko (Kikuchi), a girl whom he knows from his younger days when she was the girlfriend of his best friend Kizuki (Kengo Kora) who inexplicably committed suicide, and that of Midori (Kiko Mizuhara putting in a very charismatic performance) who actually had made the first move in getting to know him better, although stopping short of going the full distance given a boyfriend whom we never see on screen.

Depending on your preference and emotional pull toward broad stereotypes of people, the two girls are very much distinct in their personalities, one being an emotional wreck given the loss of Kizuki and spending her time in rehabilitation, which accounted for the many lush, green and white sceneries depending on the calendar month, while the other is a perpetual sunshine, confident, outgoing and attractively lively. It's pessimism versus optimism, although you'd probably understand Watanabe's obligation toward Naoko having spent time growing up together, losing their mutual friend and growing close, not to mention an awkward deflowering process that happened to seal the emotional deal and attachment.

And you wonder if you'd call that love, or attraction even, as opposed to the proposition with another girl who had entered into a crossroads in his life, being stuck in time having to want to care for someone close, versus a new opportunity being presented with Midori's presence. Tran's vision puts one into a deliberately slow paced evaluation as Watanabe struggles to understand his emotional predicament and dilemma presented, where if one doesn't know how to proceed at a forked road ahead, one stalls for time, and stalling is what this film felt like.

But thanks to cinematographer Mark Lee Ping Bin, this allows for plenty of beautiful postcard picturesque shots of the countryside, and many visually stunning captures of emotions of the characters at hand, allowing sensitive, moving moments to come through, and even chances to showcase a long tracking shot set out in the fields which flip flops across the screen as Naoko shares with Watanabe her oft confused state. My favourite however involved that between Watanabe and Midori in a snow filled landscape, cold in scenery but completely filled with the warmth of heart. The cinematography added a boost in the mundane state of characterization, and when things can't move forward, at least your eyes can start to roam at the well crafted technical shots and composition of the film, in addition to the era of the 60s.

The subplots of the rich story tried to muscle its way into the film but ultimately got sacrificed to stay focus on the primary trio, in a tale about finding it tough to let go and move on without being perceived as uncaring. And just when I thought the story had finally found its grounding from which to move off, in comes a deus ex machina moment to help propel it forward, taking off the shine of emotional roller-coaster of the previous two hours, which made it all seem a little futile and a waste. Draw your own conclusions if you will since the film left things unsatisfying open ended, and what you take away from the film, will probably be self reflective. I tried to love this film, but ultimately I can't.

I have read a different novel by Haruki Marumi (1Q84), which I found bizarre and excessively verbose and labyrinthine, but I wrote it off to the translation. (Those poor translators: they get all the blame and none of the credit!) This film makes me think that HM and I are probably just not a very good fit. The story of Norwegian Wood reminds me in some ways of something by Michelangelo Antonioni, except that here there is a perky salvation-type ending instead of a consistent tone of devastation wed to an aesthetically perfect depiction of meaninglessness.

The cinematography of Norwegian Wood is excellent. So if you are big on cinematography, then this would be a good film to watch. Otherwise? Not so sure... I myself find the character of Watanabe very unappealing, and his appeal to Japanese women rather baffling, but maybe that's just a cultural difference.

Movies like these are rare. They are special – Unique in their own ways. Norwegian Wood is the kind of film that ends better than it starts. If you can get through the first 30 minutes, the film will grow onto you and engage you and eventually immerse into your world. Based on a 1987 award winning novel about the 60s changing social situation in Japan, the film explores the complicated notions of unrequited love, the era of sexual freedom and the loss of innocence. Director Anh Hung Tran paints a beautiful, slow and lingering picture which allows the film to grow onto the audience. At times the film feels like something from Wong Kar Wai and the Beatles title song is fitting. The film ends on a lighter tone and there is one quote that I find worthy to share about loss: "All we can do is see it through to the end and learn something from it, but what we learn will be no help in facing the next sorrow that comes to us without warning". I am delighted to have gone through this cinematic journey and despite its opening flaws; Norwegian Wood eventually wins the audience's heart…

Neo rates it 9/10.

• www.thehkneo.com

When I was a university student, one of my close friends told me that novels by Haruki Murakami were good, and recommended me to read them. I was 19 years old then, and it was the first time for me to read "Norwegian Wood." The novel captured my interest, and I have read it again and again since then, and I still read it even now. "Norwegian Wood" is one of my favorite books.

The novel "Norwegian Wood" depicts the university days of the main character, Watanabe Tohru. In the novel, he lives in Tokyo, and goes to university. He likes reading American modern literature. He did not have any friends except for one best friend during his high school days, but the friend killed himself at the age of seventeen. Watanabe has several relationships with women between the age of 18 and 21. Some characters in the novel, other than Watanabe's best friend, have also killed themselves. The novel consists of sex, death, literature, and intelligence.

I went to university, and had some close female friends. In addition, I liked reading classic literature. Furthermore, I did not belong to a sport clubs at university, so the scope of my friendship was limited. In essence, I felt a sense of intimacy with Watanabe while reading the novel. (In fact, I learnt "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger and "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald from Norwegian Wood, and both books were the first English novels which I completed reading in their original language.) Norwegian Wood is an important book for me, so I was glad to hear, 2 to 3 years ago, that the movie version of this novel would be screened. The movie was released about one week ago, and I went to see it today.

Locations shot in the movie were beautiful, and the music sounds good. In particular, I was moved by one scene in which Reiko sang "Norwegian Wood" by the Beatles with a guitar, and Naoko lost her mental stability during Reiko's performance. In addition, the cast members in the movie were also good, especially Mizuhara Kiko, who played Midori, was very cute and vivid.

Since I have read the novel over and over, and remember the whole story in detail, I can go so far as to say that I do not need any explanation for the story in the movie. Because I know the story, I was purely interested in how the film director, Tran Anh Hung, had expressed the novel through the media of a movie.

The movie version of "Norwegian Wood" was not solely a converted version of the novel, but represented its originality and creativity with the help of movie techniques, such as music, voice (cry, laugh, or angry), facial expression, and scenery.

However, it is certain that those who have never read the novel will not enjoy the movie.

(The above comment is forwarded from my blog at http://metropolitantokyo.blogspot.com/)