To be honest, when I heard there was a film adaptation of Murakami’s short novel, Tony Takitani, I didn’t have high expectations. However, the film was a pleasant surprise in many ways. First, I really liked how the plot remained faithful to the original story, without changing major plot points to increase movie revenue or add director’s taste. The consistency of the plot aligned beautifully with Murakami’s calm and concise tone, as did the lighting and the camerawork of the film.
Throughout the film, there is extensive horizontal camera movement, especially used to transition between scenes, in chronological order. In a way it felt like old film reels, where each static scene is contained within a box. It effectively depicted the feeling of the mundane passing of time in Tony’s life.
Additionally, the lack of variety in camera angles make it seem static, but also emotionally ambiguous. In most scenes, we don’t see much of Tony’s facial expression(nor does he have much). This choice not only comments on the nature of the protagonist, but also through this emotional distance, it conveys the emptiness that characterizes Murakami’s work. Especially since the horizontal transitions slowly stop as Tony feels more deeply about his wife, it really sets the tone of the film clear according to how Tony feels.
Lastly, the lighting of the film truly brought it all together. The lighting is usually very warm and it shines through the characters. This creates nostalgia, the central element in Murakami’s novels. The warm, illuminating lighting combined with the camerawork brings the film closer to Murakami’s tone.
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