Austin Film Society Essential Cinema: NORWEGIAN WOOD

Written by Tran Anh Hung from the novel by Haruki Murakami
Cinematography by Mark Lee Ping Bin 
Editing by Mario Battistel
Original Music by Jonny Greenwood
Cast: Ken’ichi Matsuyama, Rinko Kikuchi, Kiko Mizuhara, Kengo Kora
Japan, 2010, New Yorker Films, 35mm, color, 133 min.
Japanese with English subtitles

During the late 1960s student rebellions in Japan, 19-year-old Watanabe discovers an unexpected love for Naoko, the girlfriend of his best friend, Kizuki, who had left the young man and woman full of questions and pain through his suicide. While Watanabe pursues his studies at a university in Tokyo, Naoko eventually shows up. A romance seems to be blossoming, but the next Watanabe hears from Naoko is a letter from a restful sanitarium in a pastoral area of the country. Watanabe finds himself truly in love with her, but she is torn between an irrational, unending love of Kizuki and a desire to find happiness with Watanabe, who successfully introduced her to physical love. The young man is so focused on Naoko that he can’t really give himself entirely to another young student, Midori, who flirts most of the time but seems seriously in love at other times.