2011 04 17 - Movie - Norwegian Wood

NORWEGIAN WOOD

Synopsis

"I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me." The melancholy tune and sentiment of this classic Beatles song seems to have taken the life of Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama), who is similarly uncertain as to how he should view his relationships. At heart, a quiet and serious young Tokyo college student in 1969, Watanabe, is deeply devoted to his first love, Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi), a beautiful and introspective young woman. But their mutual passion is made by the tragic death of their best friend years before. Watanabe lives with the influence of death everywhere, while Naoko feels as if some integral part of her has been permanently lost. On the night of Naoko's 20th birthday, they finally made love to each other. However, shortly thereafter Naoko decided to quit college and become a recluse. It is at that time Midori (Kiko Mizuhara) - a girl who is everything that Naoko is not - outgoing, vivacious, supremely self-confident - marches into Watanabe's life and he has to choose between his future and his past.

director

Anh Hung Tran

runtime

133 mins

rating

M18 (Some Sexual Content)

language

Japanese, with English and Chinese Subtitles

cast/voices of

Rinko Kikuchi, Ken�ichi Matsuyama