Review: NORWEGIAN WOOD - A Handsomely Made Failure
rating: 3
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(Rob's review from Venice re-posted as the film is released in the U.K. today) Great novels seldom make great films, so it is a tall order for Vietnamese writer and director, Ahn Hung Tran, to adapt a modern literary classic, Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood, into a major Japanese movie. The result is something very beautiful, if ultimately unfulfilling. Norwegian Wood is very nicely shot indeed, with the spectacular Japanese countryside translating very well onto the big screen. Colours are saturated, with the lush greens of the grass, the gleaming white of the snow and the artificial yellow glow of a bathroom light bulb providing a sumptuous visual feast. Tran's shot selections are also interesting, sticking mostly to single take tracking shots and slow zooms, usually in close-up or medium shot. The uncomfortable claustrophobia of the (many extended) sex scenes is palpable. Only environments are afforded big and comparatively brief establishing shots, which serve to isolate the film's troubled and confused young protagonists: perfect for a film about contemporary (well nearly) Japanese society. The film feels subjective in a way that suits the book's first person narrative.