The Norwegian Wood Movie - Eh - RYSEN

The movie overall was good, but I feel that it ends up having the same issue that so many people have when books get turned into movies -- it doesn't feel like the same piece of media. 

I did like that it put faces to names and descriptions to places, but I feel like there was so much that ended up being either overemphasized or completely cut. For instance, the beginning of the book doesn't match the beginning of the novel at all -- there is no reminiscence from an airplane or recalling of the past. Instead, everything is happening in the moment as far as we know, and for some reason, it starts in 1967 instead of 1969. It seems, though, that much of the first chapter got moved to the very end, which I thought was interesting, but I also felt that it completely changed how I saw the story. I felt that much of the book's sorrow came from Toru looking at his past and what he could've changed or done. Instead, much of this longing came from in-the-moment decisions, which I didn't feel hit as hard.

Again, I think much of my hesitancy is due to drawing comparisons to the book, but overall, the movie is an enjoyable watch. Would I watch it again? Probably not. Would I recommend it to someone over reading the book? Also, probably not. I think it misses much of Murakami's writing style, specifically how he makes a lot of side comments and opinion-based descriptions of people or events. Again, I can't make too much of a fuss as it's trying to fit hundreds of pages into two hours, but I just wish there were more. I didn't feel as connected to or as sad for many of the characters as I did when I read about them, and the sex scenes felt like extremely awkward roadbumps that I had to sit through rather than being an extremely important event that acted as a representation of vulnerability or weakness or desire.

Overall, I thought it was eh. I don't know if I would watch it had I not read the book, and even then, I think the film was for people who had already read the book. I was able to comprehend the movie, but it just didn't feel like Norwegian Wood.