Set in late 1960’s Tokyo amongst a backdrop of street demonstrations, Norwegian Wood starts off about three friends – Toru Watanabe, Naoko and Kizuki – the latter who has been best close friends with Naoko since they were very young and they’ve become a romantic item in their teen years. Early on, Kizuki commits suicide in his car and Watanabe and Naoko go their separate ways. Watanabe goes off to university but the two eventually meet up again and end up having sex the night of her 20th birthday. Then she disappears again, this time to a strange asylum of sorts in the country for people with emotional issues. The two keep in touch, but at the same time Watanabe finds himself in a relationship with a much more outgoing young woman Midori. Torn between two women and feeling empty about life’s past and future, what ensues is Toru’s nostalgic journey of loss and sexuality.
I had a chance during it’s opening week in December 2010 to catch this when I visited Japan and now having finally watched it I’m thankful I didn’t take that chance to catch it. Having never read Norwegian Wood, I wasn’t that impressed with this artsy-romance movie apart from the mesmerising cinematography, soundtrack and the acting. Such beautiful scenes from the breathtaking mountainous regions of Japan in high Summer to the bleak snowy landscapes of Winter. It was just incredibly stunning to watch. Unfortunately it doesn’t save the movie. The soundtrack is appropriate enough but the story itself dragged on for far too long with many tedious conversations which didn’t really interest me. If I’m being frank I found it dreary, unfocused, and unreasonably slow-paced. Why are some things left unexplained for instance what made Kizuki so unhappy that he felt the need to commit suicide with exhaust from his own car? The characters are also plain unlikeable and shallow that you don’t really care for them. However, the cast’s performances are good. Kenichi Matsuyama as Toru Watanabe displays a vulnerability which leaves a lasting impression. Rinko Kichuki shows the much needed frailty of Naoko’s character without becoming overly melodramatic while newcomer Kiko Mizuhara is charming as the charismatic tease Midori.
Norwegian Wood is a great looking movie but it is not well written, and since it is also quite slow moving I don’t think it will engage general audiences who haven’t read the book.
Sadako’s Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Sadako's Movie Shack 
Quite an interesting review. A year has elapsed since I watched and reviewed this one… My, how time flies.
I’m a big fan of Haruki Murakami so I went to see this when it hit UK cinemas. Like you I was indifferent to the film. The reason for it feeling unfocussed is because it has to pack in a huge novel into around two hours. It doesn’t achieve any lasting emotional resonance beause a lot of the detail built up in the novel was excised from the script so characters lost background and characterisation and actions lost a lot of meaning. It’s a stunning film to watch – Tran Anh Hung’s films are always beautiful. There are also some great performances.