I finished the book the night before Christmas Eve. I finished the movie today. Spoilers up ahead.

I knew I made the right decision to finish the book before attempting the movie. The only two other times I did not make the same choice was for Twilight because I knew it wouldn’t matter either way and Lord of the Rings because I knew my kid-something years old attention span could not take it. 

The book is incredible. In so many ways it reads like reality with only the most magical moments that remind you its fiction, it’s a fairy tale. It is terribly depressing yet obstacles overcome keep the overall tone hopeful. Basically I have not been so obsessed with a book or an author in such a long time. I feel like scabs all over me are reopening into fresh wounds, the way my feelings are creating a storm underneath my layers. Few books lend this to me, the feeling that I have never been more alive.

I can’t do the book justice by giving it a review, so I’m talking about the movie instead. In many ways it was a mega letdown but I anticipated it to be so. You could make the movie 10 hours long and it would never be able to capture the depth of Watanabe’s relationships with Naoko, Midori or even Reiko. Most of all with Nagasawa, you need to be particularly persuasive with reason to prove to your audience that the protagonist isn’t just a huge moron to be hanging out with Nagasawa. Murakami did this, Tran Anh Hung did not.

With that said though it was a beautiful film. To understand this, my biggest fear about watching a movie adaptation before reading a book is that it rips my imagination in half. For example I can no longer remember what my Harry Potter looked like. Even though I read the first four books before the movie came out. Harry Potter’s become so engrained in everything it’s impossible not to know Daniel Radcliffe’s face whether you watched the movies or not. There’s nothing wrong with Daniel Radcliffe, I just remember knowing I liked my Harry better. I have many issues with NW the film but the style of shooting, cinematography, whatever you call it, isn’t one of them. If Norwegian Wood wasn’t made into a movie adaptation but instead a picture book filled with stills of the filming, I would happily purchase it. Everything is almost exactly as I envisioned it to be. The colour of the grass, the room Watanabe shares with Stormtrooper, the record store he works at. The angles worked, the emotions were captured. As separate sequences, there were some where I was definitely, completely sold.

I’m going to be pretty honest here about the casting. At the start of the film you’re introduced to Kizuki, Naoko and Watanabe. I was hoping so hard that Watanabe was played by Kenichi Matsuyama instead of the other guy, already half knowing that it’s quite likely the main guy will be the uglier one (in my opinion) and that’s just one less thing to like about continuing on with the film. Call me shallow or whatever you like. So I was obviously tremendously happy when it turned out the hotter one (Matsuyama) was Watanabe and he’d be with me throughout the film. I think overall he did manage to portray all the times Watanabe’s character felt utterly and truly lost by his situation. Some instances where I imagined he’d be a bit more forceful or witty or just anything other than plain confused seemed a bit lacking but I think greater plot development would have helped. As for the others, pretty spot on considering the footage that was shot.

I realise I’m rambling on a bit too long than I should be for a movie review. So I’m just going to cut it short here and tell you that basically, if you watch the movie without first reading the book you will probably hate it because you’ll have no idea what’s going on, have zero understanding of the characters and just completely shut it down only to later rain profanities at me about how shit it is (cough you know who you are cough). And I don’t blame anyone who feels this way. Which is why, read the book. You don’t have to watch the film but I doubt you wouldn’t anyway after finishing the book just to satisfy your curiosity. And if all fails you and you somehow just don’t like either, the song is pretty darn good.