Norwegian wood (2010)

Original title: Noruwei no mori

Set in the 1960's, high school student Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) loses his only friend Kizuki (Kengo Kora) after he commits suicide. Toru, now looking for a new life, enters a university in Tokyo. By chance, Toru meets Kizuki's ex-girlfriend Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi) in the university. They grow close because they both share the same loss. As Toru and Naoko grow even closer, Naoko's sense of loss also grows. After Naoko's 20th birthday, she leaves for a sanitarium in Kyoto. Watanabe, devastated by the situation, meets pure-hearted Midori (Kiko Mizuhara) during the spring semester. Midori looks like a small animal that just came into the world ...

Cast:

Rinko Kikuchi Naoko
Ken'ichi Matsuyama Toru Watanabe
Kiko Mizuhara Midori
Kengo Kora Kizuki
Tetsuji Tamayama Nagasawa
Reika Kirishima Reiko Ishida
Eriko Hatsune

vintitres rated Norwegian wood

2 stars

arzinger rated Norwegian wood

5 stars

pivic wrote about Norwegian wood (6)

Quite fair film, yet uneven. Sadness and loss are the most interesting bits in this film to me, who has never read Murakami; the tempo is too changing and the general feel of the film is uneven. I love the clothes, and the soundtrack is really interesting - go Johnny Greenwood. Still, some moody frames from the film stick with me in a good way.

6 stars

pivic rated Norwegian wood

6 stars

szymonsapalski rated Norwegian wood

8 stars

jacquelinee89 rated Norwegian wood

7 stars

Tatanka rated Norwegian wood

4 stars

roger-ebert added a review of Norwegian wood

There is something in the nature of director Tran Anh Hung, however, that seems to resist happy endings. In the emotional arc of his art, the high point seems to be bittersweet. It's swee... Read the review

roger-ebert rated Norwegian wood

8 stars

peter-rainer-christian-science added a review of Norwegian wood

You can blissfully zone out on the director's pretty pictures, which is a permissible indulgence when the pictures are as delicately alluring as they are here. Also, the performances of K... Read the review

peter-rainer-christian-science rated Norwegian wood

8 stars

andrew-ohehir added a review of Norwegian wood

This is a wonderful, passionate, well-nigh unforgettable adaptation of a great novel about the horrors of love, and the wonderful fact that at least some of us live through it and come ba... Read the review

andrew-ohehir rated Norwegian wood

9 stars

stephanie-zacharek-movieline added a review of Norwegian wood

A movie like Norwegian Wood is a peculiar case – its intentions are sterling, and it's hard to pinpoint any technical flaws. The problem, maybe, is that it's trying too hard; Tran has suc... Read the review

stephanie-zacharek-movieline rated Norwegian wood

7 stars

kyle-smith added a review of Norwegian wood

For a sex movie, Norwegian Wood is about as dry as a pocketful of sand. Even for a film set in a land that considers paper folding an exciting activity, this is dull stuff. Read the review

kyle-smith rated Norwegian wood

5 stars

stephen-holden added a review of Norwegian wood

The film has the loose narrative structure of a quasi-poetic personal journal that is more a series of reflections than a cohesive story. Read the review

stephen-holden rated Norwegian wood

5 stars

eric-kohn added a review of Norwegian wood

Admittedly lovely and heartfelt, Norwegian Wood is also hollow. Read the review