Yesterday was SIFF's last day - sadly and thankfully too, because after three weeks and a half, I know people are simply looking forward to a good night of sleep -. As I was walking on Capitol Hill on this half-sunny Sunday, I realized it was my last Sunday here in Seattle, and I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to leave and go bak to Paris - no clear answer came to my mind.
In front of the Egyptian, the crowd was big and getting bigger minute by minute : we were all going to see one of SIFF 2011's last film, NORWEGIAN WOOD. After getting in, the room got very crowded. I must say that I had some doubts and fears before going to see this 133 minutes Japanese movie - I try but I am not a huge fan of Asian cinemaS -. If you tell me "you'll have to watch MYSTERIES OF LISBON or THE BEST OF YOUTH all over again - and they're both over 4 hours - I'd jump of joy, but Asian films are... often boring to me.
Anyway - I'm getting lost here. Back on track now. NORWEGIAN WOOD.
Directed by Anh Hung Tran, this drama is based on Haruki Murakami's novel, which was published in 1987 and an internationally acclaimed best-seller. Set in the Japan of the 1960s, both the film and the novel tell the story of Watanabe and Kaoko, a boy and a girl who have to deal with their best friend (for Watanabe) and eternal love (for Kaoko)'s suicide. If Watanabe learns to grow from this tragic episode of his life - he escapes from home and goes to Tokyo, starts spending his days and nights reading, make new friends, experience love -, Kaoko slowly sees her mind and health go away as she realizes that she's unable to live without this boy she had loved since forever.
She disappears, but eventually, the two damaged souls meet again one afternoon, in a park. They start taking walks together, laughing again, but never mention the name of the deceased loved one - Kizuki. On Kaoko's birthday, Watanabe prepares a surprise, a cake, a gift and some wine, and before they know it, the two teenagers are making love. However, when the boy notices that Kaoko is a virgin and asks her why she never made love with Kizuki, things go wrong and the girl disappears again. If Watanabe goes on with his life - he meets a young, pretty and charming young woman called Midori - fate and pain have linked him to Kaoko with an eternal unbreakable string. Even though her sadness remains the same and her love for Kizuki identical, Watanabe tries everything to make her feel better, because he loves her - because she loves him too, in her own way. He starts visiting her in the "clinic" where she stays, in the countryside. Together, they walk in the woods and let an ecstasy of despair grow inside them and between them. But soon, Watanabe sees his heart in between a terrible dilemma : his dangerous, passionate, sad love for Kaoko and his attraction to Midori. In between the complacency of his sorrow and his burning desire of living for himself, Watanabe doesn't really seem to be able to make a choice.
NORWEGIAN WOOD is a gorgeous film what bewitches you body and soul, that moves you deep inside, that attracts you and that makes you question your own fears and capacity of dealing with sorrow. Its stunning cinematography takes you away to the Japanese snow and forests and to the 1960s Tokyo's apartments.
Both sensual and cold, distressing and joyful, its 133 minutes manage to build a real love and life story. Even if I would have some comments and reproaches - the narrative framework is messy and way too fast at the beginning, the director's incapacity to use static shots from time to time - always zooming, de-zooming, tracking - is tiring, the simplistic use of music during tense and very emotional scenes is upsetting - the film as a whole is a fragile and erotic picture of people, both male and female, and lets you leave the movie theatre with a bittersweet taste sprinkled with nostalgia that isn't unpleasant at all.
MJ.
