I don't want to do a review of the film; my opinion isn't clear enough for me to make a judgment or evaluation yet; even after two viewings, I feel ambivalent about the film, unsure exactly what to make of it. It's certainly gorgeous, easily one of the most visually stunning films of the year, but I couldn't quite penetrate it. Perhaps it's the foreigness of the culture, both in time and geography, or maybe it's that it's an adaptation, not only of a fairly long novel, but of a Murakami novel- which often means quiet, tricky characters and dark mystery. A tough project for any film maker. Or maybe the film is just puzzling and enigmatic, to its credit or from lacking some greater vision. Regardless, I've compiled my thoughts and questions in the notes below, hoping that writing about them will illuminate some issues in the film.
1. I said it above, but, Holy Lord is this movie beautiful. Certain scenes, such as the one in which Watanabe is caught between two groups of student protesters running through a corridor, are so well constructed and well shot that they give me the chills. Cinematographer Ping Bin Lee does a beautiful job. I'm eager to take a look at his or at director Tran Anh Hung's other films...or whatever either one has coming in the future.
2. Speaking of those protesters, though, what the hell ever happened to them? There are 3 scenes involving student protests at the beginning of the film (all of them wonderful) and then...nothing. I wonder if they play a larger role in the novel or what, but there was a whole other dimension here that was teased and then...poof. Nothing.
3. This leads to one of the central issues I have with the movie- there are so many intruiging elements to the way it's filmed- the beautiful protests, the endlessly lingering, Terrence Malick-esque shots of nature, the long, uncomfortable sex scenes, the opium-den apartments that every character seems to live in- all of this wonderful stuff, but much of it never really seems to play into the plot in a more meaningful way. I was so adoring of the film the first time I saw it, especially for the first half, because there is so much potential here, but the only thing the film seems to care about are the particular relationships between the characters. Perhaps that's the point, that all of the world is opaque and unimportant in the face of this love, or at least this imagined version of love, but...well, maybe I just wanted a different film than the one actually on offer.
4. On the other hand, one of my favorite things about it is the way it unfolds slowly like some sort of fantastical dream. Nothing other-worldly happens, and yet, the mood of dark enchantment, of power and emotion, is present in every second of the film. It's slow-paced as all hell, and yet, EVERYTHING IS INTENSE. As Naoko and Watanabe walk through the park, the leaves shiver and, if you're in the right mood, so do you. Perhaps the atmosphere of the film is meant solely as an expression of their desires and emotional states, but none of the characters command enough sympathy to roll with them the entire film, and so such skillful construction of mood seems a bit wasted.
5. Adding to the visual element here is the music. Damn! What a job, Johnny Greenwood (of Radiohead and There Will Be Blood fame). Half of the move is accompanied by period songs that are employed effectively and at times, are even meta-textually wound into the plot (on several occasions the music stops abruptly, as if controlled by the characters' actions). The other half is soaring violins and orchestral peices that slowly move into warped, demented Kubrick/Walter Carlos territory along with the direction (Watanabe's greiving scene is straight out of The Shining). Even the sound editing is wonderful. The woods, the city, the scenes that are strangely silent. Like above, really a dream of a film they put together.
6. Why does EVERYONE want to have sex with Watanabe? Every fucking female in the film wants him bad and wants to talk, constantly, about how much sex they want to have with him. This struck me as a bit mysogonistic and male fantasy-esque. Kind of killed some of the vibe.
7. The character development is truly stunning here. Their paths in the film are not a straight trajectories. Apropos for a bunch of 19-20 year olds, and strangely lacking from many films about this age group, is the degree to which all of them are genuinely confused. Characters frequently contradict themselves and seem to switch off between different types of emotions for each other, without necessarily being aware that they are doing so, and without making it so obvious to the audience. Their paths are wandering. Just as conversations are often set while walking and pacing and shaking in torrents of emotion, so too are the paths of the characters semi-dialectical and wandering.
8. The moving is very Wuthering Heights. Think Catherine and Heathcliffe crying and moaning on the moors. There is a lot of crying, some screaming to the heavens, a lot of emotional torment set amidst wild scenes of harsh nature.
9. At the same time as the characters develop fluidly and in unsettled ways, there is an air of fate about the film, reinforced by the repeated violin track that plays over dramatic scenes as well as the way that the characters discuss their lives in such absolute terms: love, responsibility, forever. Of course, part of this is the intensity of nineteen-year-old love. But part, I think, is the direction. The film, through some of the visual and musical aspects mentioned above, has the feeling of a dark fantasy playing out, as if these young lovers are Shakespearean mind-giants. Several 19th century European works come to mind most heavily- of course Wuthering Heights, but there's also a lot of Madame Bovary and Great Expectations going on here. We're certainly in the land of high fiction. But perhaps that is the fiction in which the characters are living and we are mere guests on their emotional journey.
10. Oh, the travails of adapting a book. In some ways, it works for this film. You can't include everything from a 400 page novel in a two hour movie, and so some of the clarity is gone. Sometimes, this adds to the mysterious logic that plays with your mind. It works some of the time. Events happen with ambigious cause and effect- to us and to the characters. One short scene opens with Watanabe in a record store, his hand covered in blood. Store patrons stare at him aghast. He stares down at his hand, as shocked as they are. The manager runs up with paper towells to cover his hand. The scene ends. What the fuck just happened? But it works. Events unexplained can work. And doesn't this happen in real life anyway, and especially when there is intense love and longing? Maybe not bloody hands, but there is certainly more feeling than there is understanding, more confusion about events and actions, even your own. This is rarely so well represented as in the dream-logic of this film. On the other hand, the mystery detracts from the film's overall impact. I left the second screening with little to think about but atmosphere and vibe. For a film that presents so many enigmas, that seems to push you to unwrap its meaning, there didn't seem to be a whole lot to unwrap. Some vague statement about living life to the fullest, perhaps? But still, no one ever seemed to enjoy life very much in this story. By the end, the film felt both too long and too short. It could've used another three hours and it also could've cut about 40 minutes. A shorter cut may have been more effective in slow-building the emotional landscape without becoming cumbersome, or a longer cut could have really given us a fuller sense of the world of these characters and some more of the substance of their thoughts.
11. In the end, I'm left agreeing with the quote on the film's poster: this movie seems to be "in the realm of greatness." But I'm not quite sure it ever makes it all the way there.
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