After watching... burn...

Laverne 2022-04-15 09:01:07

A friend said that after reading Chen Yingxiong's "Norwegian Forest", it felt like reading a book at all, more like turning a 350-page book in two hours. The camera is in motion without stopping, and the repeated emphasis on the dark green tones forces the characters to walk around, rushing the audience to find the ending. This is of course uncomfortable. I believe that Chen Yingying also collapsed when he saw the negative comments flying all over the sky and no country differences. In Venice last year, he also repeatedly said that there was a problem with the projection sound. Now, he can finally give up.

Of course, Chen Yingying doesn't believe in first-class works and second-rate movies. He may not believe in evil, and he even pleases Haruki Murakami. The problem mentioned at the beginning is not necessarily that Chen Yingying has not considered it. After all, he still manipulates every character. Watanabe didn't have the memory of falling into youth at the beginning, Naoko didn't have the experience of facing suicide, Midori didn't have cute words, and didn't watch A-movies together, Yongze didn't like to read books, and the death squad went straight to death. The most exaggerated thing is Reiko is begging Watanabe to have sex... It can be seen that he is not a lazy creator, but to the readers of the original book, he is definitely a rude editor.

I understand the drool of the fans of the original book very well, and I sympathize with Chen Yingying's tragic experience. How to turn a book into a movie is never a good job, or it's a total mess at all. Because as long as they have read books, all of them will first restore the movie to a book, and then compare the existing picture sense in their minds and collide with the stubborn memory impression. As for the consideration of pure film itself, that can only be relegated to second or third place. Mistakes also appear in actors, such as Rinko Kikuchi, who has a lot of negative voices. Obviously in "Tower of Babel", she is so good, so international, and can withstand beating, but in "Norwegian Wood", her big face and hard facial lines are a nightmare, comparable to her in the How terrifying the 2007 Oscars red carpet was. When the 30-year-old said she was approaching 20, I inevitably fell into an emotional breakdown.

"Norwegian Forest" can be described in many ways, but it should never be a pure love version, not to mention that Chen Yingying still retains so many sexual elements. But it happens that so many lusts are intertwined, so profound life and death pass by, the film is still made into a hopeless pure love model, and a small freshness blows. The wind in spring, the grass in summer, the trees in autumn, and the snow in winter, such a set of scenery film shooting methods indeed guarantees the beauty and ensures that the audience will not slander it from the picture. Opening a contract is a bit too much. I try to understand Chen Yingying's approach. He may want to attract young audiences and avoid the so-called old-fashioned movies. But as the youth love of the 1960s, the disbanded bands and the people who passed away, this film should have exuded a strong nostalgic flavor. Obviously, although he learned a little bit of narration and copied the contents of the book, this Watanabe did not have any doubts about the past, nor did he get lost. Just by looking at his silent growl and not knowing where he is at the end, you should know that this is a glass of pressed grape juice, not fermented wine.

Therefore, Chen Yingxiong is too ingenious and skillful. He can't find the essence of the original work at all, and he can't find the self that has been lost for a long time. To say that it is difficult to compress and adapt novels, Raoul Luz took only two and a half hours to film "Reminiscence of the Time Is Like Water", with 7 volumes and 15 volumes. Although it is difficult to be fully recognized by the public, the director has preserved himself well, the atmosphere of the original work is still there, and the stream of consciousness exudes infinite charm. "Norwegian Forest", which is also a reminiscence of the past, has a bunch of distinctive characters, but after it was made into a movie, it failed to produce a kind of aesthetic feeling of scrutiny and aftertaste. It is said that this is because the distance is too far, or the modern atmosphere is too heavy - anyway, it is not like horizontal and vertical, or it should burn after reading it. 【Player Benefit Column】

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Extended Reading
  • Anabel 2022-04-21 09:03:53

    The saliva of again&again reminds me of the vomiting of the American team again&again back then, Matsuyama-kun, you really are not suitable for playing a normal person. It turned out that I had read such a painful novel back then, although I have no impression of watching the movie now, I just simply hate Rinko Kikuchi's dead fish face and baby voice. Midori is a real angel~ Mori girl + vintage hairstyle + angel smile + cute voice.

  • Lon 2022-04-18 09:01:20

    As far as Li Pingbin's photography is concerned, it is still worth seeing. Kenichi Matsuyama is more like Watanabe than he imagined.

Norwegian Wood quotes

  • Storm Trooper: Mind if I give you a piece of advice?

    Toru Watanabe: Sure.

    Storm Trooper: Don't feel sorry for yourself. Only degenerates feel sorry for themselves.

  • Toru Watanabe: Nothing can heal the loss of a beloved. No truth, no sincerity, no strength, no kindness can heal that sorrow. All we can do is live through the sorrow and learn something from it. But whatever we learn will be of no help in facing the next sorrow that comes along.