Review of Norwegian Wood (2010) by Gabriel H — 19 Mar 2011

This is a brilliantly observant and touching film about human relationships and how people deal, generally quite tragically, with love.

It's very slow moving, probably less so that the equally moving Scent of Green Papaya, so not for everyone but it needs to be to convey the sense of waiting which the main character goes through- loving somebody distant and who has problems she has to deal with on her own, not sure if she loves him back. Meanwhile other people come and go and everybody seems to be loving people who don't love them back, which the film deals with well, creating a sense of unease in human relationships which rings very true throughout and which probably most people can relate to with a good deal of happy memories and regret.

It's also lovingly shot- every still could be a postcard, which is very reminiscent of the director's other films. In comparing humanity to nature around it, the lives of the characters seem less slow paced and just as transient as everything else. Love, sex and death and inescapably intertwined and everybody seems to be trying to make the three fit where they want them to and with the people they want them to but reality doesn't work that way for any of them. Like nature, things just are and if you try to shape them you invariably end up wanting things you can't have. The scenes where characters break down are particularly well handled; there isn't always somebody who loves them conveniently there to hold them through it- the hardest moments are made harder with their loneliness. All of this is very well observed in vivid detail, and the use of colours, music and 60s retro design and stylings makes this a very believeable film. Not necissarily enjoyable, but definately affecting. It will make you examine, wish for and reassess the truly loving connections you've had and lost, however long they lingered.