Elliot - Movie thoughts

Sorry for the late post! I had this all written up and forgot to upload it

I didn't particularly like the adaptation, but I'm also pretty clueless as to how Norwegian Wood could possibly be adapted. So much of the atmosphere is fostered by the narration and the lower-key conversations, and I think it's with that that you get a real sense of Watanabe's character. Specifically, I think his description of the mundanity of his everyday life conveys his isolation, as well as his aimless passivity as a result of his indecision surrounding Naoko. In the context of the movie, his reticence makes him a much harder character to empathize with. I think much of this is the fault of the medium, though, and I think Murakami must be an incredibly difficult author to adapt with how important narration and atmosphere are to his novels.

One other thing I had a gripe with were the walking scenes. In the novel, I think they're generally intended to create a sense of disconnect between the characters, since they aren't looking at each other's faces and can only communicate through words. The reader, like Watanabe, can't know what whoever he's walking with is thinking just from their expression. However, when Naoko and Watanabe are walking at the sanatorium, the scene is shot from the side, with no cuts. I found this style somewhat distracting, and I thought seeing Naoko's face changed the scene signficantly. I wonder if it would have been better shot from Watanabe's point of view for some section of the scene, with only the back of Naoko's head visible. Also, why did they walk around Midori's house? From my perspective, Watanabe generally talking to Midori face-to-face, as opposed to through letters and walks, gives their relationship a different type of intimacy. I can't think of any reason to make them walk around the house, neither logically nor symbolically. I don't know, this has been too rambly and I'm focusing on minutia, but I'm sure I could complain about other stuff too.