ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Shannon Crohns I had seen this book in the store in the "In the movies" section and fell in love with the cover. I never read it though, because I wanted to watch the movie first. I'm a huge fan of Japanese movies and dramas and was really excited with it came out on netflix and watched it instantly. I was blown away by how beautiful it was shot, the scenery, the lighting, everything was absolutely gorgeous with out being overwhelming and dramatic. I thought that the story was so tragically romantic and stunning, and very different from other romance films where everything is peachy and they never really talk about things or show things as horrible as severe mental illness and suicide. While i wasn't expecting it to be as explicit as it was I was so glad that it was. From all the dramas and films I've watched from Japan, a lot of the time the actors will more so press their lips together and not actually kiss, it was a breath of fresh air to see them kissing compassionately and being so intimate. And to see such wonderful acting! And it was also refreshing to have such an "in your face" story that really peeled back a lot of rose color that is applied to romance films and cut the crap and really showed what it's like to deal with things that come out of loving someone. I thought that there were a few thing in this film that didn't seem very necessary to the story and probably could have just been cut out, but all of it was amazing and I'm very glad I watched it. I now hope to read the book.Also, I hope that those who enjoyed this might also consider watching 5 Liters of Tears. It's a fantastic Japanese drama that also is very deep and in your face about living with a terminal illness.

Tom Gooderson-A'Court Set in 1960s Japan, Norwegian Wood is a film about depression, loss and sexuality. After his best friend Kizuki commits suicide aged 17, Watanabe (Ken-ichi Matsuyama) moves to Tokyo and enrols at University in an attempt to escape the depressing nature of his home town. By chance one day he meets his dead friend's ex-girlfriend Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi) and the two begin a loving but strained relationship. Naoko has never truly got over the death of Kizuki and one day disappears, eventually turning up in a sanatorium deep in the forest. Watanabe tries to maintain both a friendly and sexual relationship with the depressed Naoko but this is made difficult by her mental state and the introduction of the outgoing and self confident Midori (Kiko Mizuhara) who vies for Watanabe's affections.The film features some quite stunning cinematography and beautifully shot landscapes. This was great because the actual story was quite depressing and boring. I never really got on board with any of the characters and felt distanced from them. Watanabe is a man who is deeply in love and trying to do the right thing but at the same time living through a sexually adventurous age and wants to have something from both worlds. Naoko was a very loving but deeply disturbed character and the two of them spent most of the film staring into nothingness or out across beautiful vistas. It kind of felt like a two hour long perfume advert. Another thing it reminded me of is the sort of French tragic-dramas that go down so well with critics but are seen by about six people, all of whom hate it. I think you have to get on board fairly early on with this film and I just didn't.Along with the fantastic cinematography the film also features some great prog-rock and psychedelic music from the period which works really well. The score is also excellent and was composed by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood. The great Beatles song Norwegian Wood from which the source material got its name is also used.On the whole the film is incredibly beautiful but feels allusive and distant. Thematically it is sound and aesthetically it works but it is overly long and too dull.www.attheback.blogspot.com

IrohaUta Disappointing... Tran Anh Hung took off all the lightness and funny parts of the book (Reiko is so plain, guitar playing scene made cheesy), only to illustrate the angst of the characters, i.e, with looong shots of them yelling, drooling, crying over beautiful landscapes sceneries. And had I not read the book, the story would have seem to me like a classic cliché three-sided love with dull soppy moments (The amount of "I love you" scenes) . Plus, for once, Hung focused too much on the sexual aspect of the relationships, the scenes are indeed sensual, but it gets tiring after a while. Tran Anh Hung's hand immediately recognizable and what bothers me is that it seems to be exaggerated on purpose. "Let's make him cry with some flashbacks of her, and let's put long shots of waves crushing rocks to show the internal turmoil inside him, in case the yelling/drooling/unshaved look wasn't enough". Beautiful, subtle, yeah. Shallow, over-melodramatic, vapid and gloomy, hell yeah !

tha-13 This pretentious movie is beyond art-house-cinema at its worst, because it isn't art. Because it has no touch what so ever with human emotions it is unbearable to watch, and you cannot help feeling, that it must all of sudden turn into a comedy - but unfortunately it does not. It wants to be a movie about sexuality and loss, but since it is made by the mind of a materialist it looks and feels like a series of scenes with abused young actors in a bad commercial for a dress-label and a Russian vodka. It wants to show off and take an existential view on the important and always vivid subject of coming-of-age, but the level of wisdom and spiritual depth is perhaps the most shallow, I have seen since "plan 9 from outer space". Watch Bille August "Zappa" or Jacob Aron Estes' "Mean creek" instead.