fanbaz-549-872209 This movie is a period movie. Big time. The sixties. Why the sixties? Okay. A guy is looking back because he heard a Beatles song. Please. This is a plot? Ten minutes in and a student kills himself. Then a guy talks about all the women he has had or hasn't had. Then there's some soft lighting and two virgins stop being virgins. And all the time the production designer is finding new ways to remind us that it is the sixties, full of naughty students telling their teachers what to do. This was big in the sixties. I was part of it. So I know. And there is the same sixtie's car in every shot in case you forget. Let us not forget the costume designer running around thrift stores looking for old shirts and finds them. Except they are 70's shirts. Hollywood has millions left over from all those terrible soaps. I switched off after 20 depressing minutes. But if you like soft porn and suicide and sixties coffee tables, pal. This is for you.

karmaswimswami Tran Anh Hung wrote the screen adaptation of Murakami's great, numinal novel (my signed galley proof of which will have to be prised from my cold dead hands), and slightly reapportions the themes and mood to great effect so that they work on the screen.Japanese cinema has motifs of servicing and venerating the dead to the extent that it consumes the living: see, for example, Ichikawa's masterpiece "The Burmese Harp." We know Naoko will die: the longueur, the moments in which she stares at the camera slightly too long hint at "Ugetsu monogotari" and convey to us that functionally she is no longer among the living. Her sojourn at a mountain retreat telegraphs the coming of her death as mountains do in "Ballad of Narayama."Toru can either go with life and time moving ahead, with the lively extrovert Midori, and wallow among death, the past, confusion and guilt. We have intimations of what he'll choose, though his process of getting there endears.Ably lensed, nicely scored, tenderly directed. Renki Kikuchi is quite brilliant, and Kiko Mizuhara in her first screen outing exudes promise.

khairulza Watched this in an effort to get into Murakami in an effort to actually read fictions. Absolutely loving it. Murakami's stories (or at least this adaptation) doesn't seem as messed-up as I try to expect it to be. But then again I've watched Oldboy, so everything else is tame in comparison.I haven't read the book, but watching this film made me believe that everyone has their own struggles in the past, and Tran Anh Hung succeeded in delivering it in such few shots, especially for side characters such as Nagasawa, Natsumi, and Reiko.So I'm gonna go in-depth on why I love each and every single character in this film, and how are they so, human.Nagasawa: He's a great friend, but we all can agree that he's a dick to Natsumi. He is almost too simple of a character until his final advice to Watanabe revealed something. He said, "Don't ever feel sorry for yourself, only degenerates feel that way." It showed that he probably has battled with self-esteem issues in the past, and he had come far to get to where he is right now. Was it family abuse? He's also very ambitious, did he came out from poverty? Natsumi: She loves Nagasawa so much, almost unconditionally. It's the greatest feeling in the world, also the worst. The moment she killed herself, albeit being told in narrative, was the most heart-breaking moment in the film for me.Midori: Despite coming from a broken home, she decides to stay optimistic. Flirtatious, but respect the social contract of being in a relationship, hence she only fully came out to Watanabe after she broke up, and still wait for him to settle things with his other love interest.My favorite moment of Midori is when she talked about of her idea of love. She want to be pampered, loved, and protected, it all sounded almost selfish. But I appreciate her honesty. She just don't want to be hurt again.Reiko: She is portrayed as the mentor figure in the film, especially with the sensei title. But all the while she was accompanying the couple, I couldn't help but wonder, how does she feels? She's a human being too, a woman. She also deserves to have the feeling of companionship.I was partly relieved for the end scene with Watanabe. Though I genuinely panicked for him (he promised to go back straight to Midori, but he also shouldn't refuse Reiko as she, too, deserve happiness), I was relieved that Reiko was given the chance to re-discover what she has long lost.Naoko: We never really know what made her plunged too deep into depression and schizophrenia, but we know that she was in a lot of pain. Too much pain. Unsure of her real feelings towards Kitsuki, inability to really experience physical intimacy, hopelessness, not getting answers, too much.I can't articulate enough on how I relate to her the most, but I do.Kitsuko: He's someone interesting. Very short airtime in the film, but only towards the end we can sympathize what Kitsuki had to go through. One of it being, unable to make Naoko happy? Watanabe: He's the guy who has to take everything in, from everyone in his life. Except during the time Kitsuko, and later Naoko, kill themselves, he never showed much reaction. Naoko showed up after years of disappearance? Okay. Disappear again? Okay. Midori flirted with him and describing very visual sexual encounter? Okay. She got mad and cut contact with him? Okay. Nagasawa and Natsumi making the dinner uncomfortable? Okay. Reiko came back asking to sleep together? Okay. OMG WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE IN WATANABE'S LIFE.What I love most about him, however, is his overbearing sense of responsibility towards Naoko. Like what he told Midori, even if hypothetically he doesn't love Naoko, he still have to be with her. Poignant, but beautiful.Well that's it. I'm grateful I watched this as there are too many things to take away from. Putting this into words so I will have a record on how I feel about the story, before getting into the book!

vulpeshu Well... This is my first review, but I try to keep it short.SPOILER!!This movie is not for everyone, but not because of the sex-scenes, or the suicides. You can not get the whole picture of the story, after seeing it, 'cause there are really big holes in the plot. Holding back information from the viewer is not making it more mysterious, only confusing everything up. The ending of the movie is slightly different from the book. It's a bit more direct, but it's also leaves you to imagine future of the main character.SPOILER OFFDo not watch this film, before reading the original book, from Mr.Murakami Haruki. Trust me, you'll need it, because the cast of the film is not so good, to channel all the emotions of the story.BUT, don not read the book, or watch the film, if you're not into sad, romantic dramas. It's the best, if you're going to watch it with you boy/girlfriend, some hugs at the end should come in handy :)