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Men In Black 3

It’s not a sequel that needed to be made, but thanks to the charm of its leads and a tone that harks back to the wit and humour of the original, it’s a pretty enjoyable trip.

Bel Ami

The excellent female support cast saves this patchy effort, which is let down by its leading man and a flat screenplay.

The Dictator

A disappointing, often repulsive and mean-spirited mess of a film with seemingly only one real criterion on its agenda: to shock and offend.

The Woman In Black

Packed with atmosphere, this old-fashioned but deftly told ghost story delivers ample chills and thrills.

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Norwegian Wood (Film)

by Joshua Blackman | October 04, 2011 14:55 | Edited October 04, 2011 16:20

It occasionally feels overwrought, but for the most part, this is a beautifully rendered and haunting exploration of grief and loss.

The title, of course, is a reference to the iconic Lennon/McCartney song, one which fittingly describes this elegant and sensuous adaptation of Haruki Murakami's popular novel about loss, love and sexuality. Stylishly shot (it looks downright incredible) by French-Vietnamese director Anh Hung Tran and cinematographer Ping Bin Lee, Norwegian Wood revolves around Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama), a young college student in sixties Japan torn between two women: the beautiful but damaged Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi), and the headstrong Midori (Kiko Mizuhara).

 

Filled with so much angst that you'd be forgiven for thinking that you'd stumbled onto Twilight's Japanese cousin, Norwegian Wood has a powerful melancholy, and is brutally honest in its assessment of the long term effects of loss. The source of the characters' turmoil is the sudden death of their best friend (and Naoko's boyfriend), Kizuki (Kengo Kora), who commits suicide by locking himself in a garage with his still-running car. This becomes both a point of connection and a roadblock in Watanabe and Naoko's tentative relationship. It's obvious that they have an almost primal bond, but Naoko is hesitant and flees to a remote Kyoto forest retreat in an effort to deal with her debilitating grief. It's then that Watanabe starts to wonder: maybe he'd be better off with the more outgoing - but less alluring - Midori?

 

Featuring outstanding performances, director Tran creates extended, intense scenes of fever-pitch emotion and tentative sexual experimentation. His technique can sometimes be arch - an extended tracking shot in the long grass of a stunning, deserted valley, for instance, is almost De Palma-esque - but he places you so uncomfortably in touch with the raw emotions of the characters that it's heartbreaking. Languorously paced and at times a little too overwrought (and also a tad overlong), Norwegian Wood nonetheless has considerable tear-inducing power, and is a stunning visual treat.