Norwegian Wood DVD

Haruki Murakami's hugely popular 1987 novel is a poignant tale of longing, loss and literature set during the student unrest of 1960s Japan. This hauntingly beautiful adaptation by French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung distills its essence into a series of vignettes, with dreamlike cinematography by Ping Bin Lee (New York, I Love You, 2009) and an evocative score by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood (There Will Be Blood, 2007).

Shaken by the death of his best friend, Kizuki, Toru (Kenichi Matsuyama) embarks on an uncertain relationhip with Kuzuki’s troubled former girlfriend, Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi). When Naoko retreats to recover in rural sanitorum, Toru befriends a fellow student, the vivacious Midori (Kiko Mizuhara).

With sensitive lead performances from Matsuyama and Kikuchi (who was Oscar-nominated for her role in Babel, 2009), the film stays true to the novel’s melancholy spirit, though completists will certainly mourn the missing material. But Hung has chosen to bring Murakami’s words to life through a visual poetry which includes Tarkovsky-like shots of landscapes and nature, and the film’s immaculate period detail underscores its themes of nostalgia and regret.