Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Cortechba Overrated

MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

musapuff I am so disappointed in this adaptation of the book Norwegian Wood.The whole movie can be described as awkward. For viewers who had not read the book before will probably be so confused because the movie never explained why everything happened. The characters would randomly do things that viewers would never know the reason why unless they read the book. There's no fluidity between scenes - every scene just cuts in randomly after the next. I had so many "what happened" moments.The chemistry between the cast is so awkward too and more so because the characters themselves just seem so unnatural. I have a huge problem with the actress portraying Naoko. She's way too smiley which makes her super creepy and not the silent but deep in thought type. There's no buildup emotion to any of her mental breakdowns. One moment she'd be all happy and silent then immediately she would cry and breakdown. Quite scary actually. In the book there's at least some sort of inclination to the reason why she's breaking down.Okay and the scene where Naoko and Toru took a nightly stroll is so awful that it's hilarious. Those two walked in the meadow so fast I was afraid they would trip and fall. Toru seemed to have a really hard time keeping up with Naoko. And what is the hurry? No one chat and stroll likes that. The funniest part is when they paced back and forth even though the meadow can go on forever. It was as if the actors were only limited to walk within a certain area to stay in camera (which could be true).And the scene with Midori's father is so pointless in the movie. In the book, the purpose that scene serves is to demonstrate character revelation in which Toru realizes his power of affecting the people around him, how he can change someone. But the movie implied nothing.If you're looking to see a movie adaptation of the book, this will not satisfy you as a book reader.

khairulza Watched this in an effort to get into Murakami in an effort to actually read fictions. Absolutely loving it. Murakami's stories (or at least this adaptation) doesn't seem as messed-up as I try to expect it to be. But then again I've watched Oldboy, so everything else is tame in comparison.I haven't read the book, but watching this film made me believe that everyone has their own struggles in the past, and Tran Anh Hung succeeded in delivering it in such few shots, especially for side characters such as Nagasawa, Natsumi, and Reiko.So I'm gonna go in-depth on why I love each and every single character in this film, and how are they so, human.Nagasawa: He's a great friend, but we all can agree that he's a dick to Natsumi. He is almost too simple of a character until his final advice to Watanabe revealed something. He said, "Don't ever feel sorry for yourself, only degenerates feel that way." It showed that he probably has battled with self-esteem issues in the past, and he had come far to get to where he is right now. Was it family abuse? He's also very ambitious, did he came out from poverty? Natsumi: She loves Nagasawa so much, almost unconditionally. It's the greatest feeling in the world, also the worst. The moment she killed herself, albeit being told in narrative, was the most heart-breaking moment in the film for me.Midori: Despite coming from a broken home, she decides to stay optimistic. Flirtatious, but respect the social contract of being in a relationship, hence she only fully came out to Watanabe after she broke up, and still wait for him to settle things with his other love interest.My favorite moment of Midori is when she talked about of her idea of love. She want to be pampered, loved, and protected, it all sounded almost selfish. But I appreciate her honesty. She just don't want to be hurt again.Reiko: She is portrayed as the mentor figure in the film, especially with the sensei title. But all the while she was accompanying the couple, I couldn't help but wonder, how does she feels? She's a human being too, a woman. She also deserves to have the feeling of companionship.I was partly relieved for the end scene with Watanabe. Though I genuinely panicked for him (he promised to go back straight to Midori, but he also shouldn't refuse Reiko as she, too, deserve happiness), I was relieved that Reiko was given the chance to re-discover what she has long lost.Naoko: We never really know what made her plunged too deep into depression and schizophrenia, but we know that she was in a lot of pain. Too much pain. Unsure of her real feelings towards Kitsuki, inability to really experience physical intimacy, hopelessness, not getting answers, too much.I can't articulate enough on how I relate to her the most, but I do.Kitsuko: He's someone interesting. Very short airtime in the film, but only towards the end we can sympathize what Kitsuki had to go through. One of it being, unable to make Naoko happy? Watanabe: He's the guy who has to take everything in, from everyone in his life. Except during the time Kitsuko, and later Naoko, kill themselves, he never showed much reaction. Naoko showed up after years of disappearance? Okay. Disappear again? Okay. Midori flirted with him and describing very visual sexual encounter? Okay. She got mad and cut contact with him? Okay. Nagasawa and Natsumi making the dinner uncomfortable? Okay. Reiko came back asking to sleep together? Okay. OMG WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE IN WATANABE'S LIFE.What I love most about him, however, is his overbearing sense of responsibility towards Naoko. Like what he told Midori, even if hypothetically he doesn't love Naoko, he still have to be with her. Poignant, but beautiful.Well that's it. I'm grateful I watched this as there are too many things to take away from. Putting this into words so I will have a record on how I feel about the story, before getting into the book!

Howard Schumann The poet Rilke said, "There is only one journey. Going inside yourself. Here something blooms; from out of a silent crevice an unknowing weed emerges singing into existence." The unknowing weed takes its time to sing but sing it does in director Tran Anh Hung's film Norwegian Wood, his first since Vertical Ray of the Sun in 2000. Based on the best-selling 1987 novel of Haruki Murikami (which I haven't read), the film reflects the inner journey of 19-year-old Toru Watanabe (Ken'ichi Matsuyama), a journey that embodies the pain of love and loss, the tantalizing embrace of death, the end of dreams, and the beginning of adult responsibility.Scored by Jonny Greenwood with some narration by Watanabe, the film takes place in Tokyo in 1967 in the midst of student protests against the War in Vietnam. Trying to ease the pain of the shattering loss of Kizuki (Kengo Kora), a close friend from high school, Watanabe immerses himself in his studies at school where he is majoring in drama and, with Nagasawa (Tetsuji Tamayama), an older and more experienced friend, is able to release his tension by going to bars and picking up girls for sex. Things change, however, when Kizuki's former girlfriend, the beautiful but emotionally fragile Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi), shows up in Tokyo and reaches out to Watanabe for consolation. Though their language is exceedingly frank and sexually explicit, it is vital to understanding the characters and never used to titillate.Their deepening relationship, however, only brings the feelings of loss closer to the surface and Naoko's ensuing emotional breakdown causes her to leave Tokyo for psychological rehabilitation at a mountain retreat where she is only able to see Watanabe intermittently. Even on occasional meetings, however, they embrace a dark ecstasy that inures them, at least temporarily, from their mutual grief, but when Naoko's roommate, music teacher Reiko (Reika Kirishima), sings the Lennon and McCartney song "Norwegian Wood" at Naoko's 20th birthday party, the line "and when I awoke, I was alone, this bird had flown," evokes tears that flow naturally.Paralyzed by her sadness and feelings of responsibility for Kizuki's death, Naoko sinks deeper into despair and Watanabe's vows of lifelong fidelity are compromised by his attraction to Midori (Kiko Mizuhara), a smart, outgoing student who also has had to overcome a troubled past. Norwegian Wood is not a film about "teenage angst," or any other of the favorite catch phrases that substitute for empathy, but about the essence of life itself and the anguish of having to let go of attachments. More of a tone poem than a free-flowing narrative, the film creates an indelible experience of both exquisite beauty and aching pain, perhaps two sides of the same coin. Like the under-appreciated Tony Takitani, another film based on a story by Murakami, Norwegian Wood unfolds like a dream, evoking a mood of serenity and contemplation.Supported by the stunning cinematography of Ping Bin Lee, much of the film's power takes place in the silences that allow us to simply observe the sublime beauty of the countryside, its forests, waterfalls, and the purity of its winter landscapes. While some may try, the film's emotional roller coaster cannot be filtered out and, in the process of assimilating it, it builds a quiet power that ensnares us and leaves us to explore its meanings long after the final credits. In spite of those who want to attach the label of "boring" to every film that moves slowly and requires concentration, Norwegian Wood will be remembered as one of Hung's best films and a work that brought cinema to a new level of artistic achievement.

tha-13 This pretentious movie is beyond art-house-cinema at its worst, because it isn't art. Because it has no touch what so ever with human emotions it is unbearable to watch, and you cannot help feeling, that it must all of sudden turn into a comedy - but unfortunately it does not. It wants to be a movie about sexuality and loss, but since it is made by the mind of a materialist it looks and feels like a series of scenes with abused young actors in a bad commercial for a dress-label and a Russian vodka. It wants to show off and take an existential view on the important and always vivid subject of coming-of-age, but the level of wisdom and spiritual depth is perhaps the most shallow, I have seen since "plan 9 from outer space". Watch Bille August "Zappa" or Jacob Aron Estes' "Mean creek" instead.