Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

Norwegian Wood Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov July 13, 2011

Nominated for Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, Tran Anh Hung's "Noruwei no mori" a.k.a "Norwegian Wood" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Soda Pictures. The supplemental features on the disc include the film's original theatrical trailer; long making of featurette; footage from the film's premiere in Japan; poster gallery; and more. In Japanese, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

Midori and Watanabe

Tokyo, 1968. The world is changing and so is Japan. Hundreds of students are on the streets protesting and demanding. Many are waving red flags.

But 19-year-old student Watanabe (Ken'ichi Matsuyama, Nana, Death Note Collection) isn’t interested in politics. Two years after the death of his best friend Kizuki (Kengo Kôra, Fish Story, A Crowd of Three), he has fallen in love with his former girlfriend, Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi, The Brothers Bloom, Assault Girls). He dreams of spending the rest of his life with her but feels that it may not be the right thing to do.

Watanabe and Naoko spend plenty of time together. They even make love - once. For a while, life could not be any better. Then Naoko suddenly disappears. Heartbroken and disillusioned, Watanabe becomes a loner.

Midori (model Kiko Mizuhara), an elegant and energetic girl, approaches Watanabe. Though she is the exact opposite of Naoko, Watanabe quickly falls for her. Gradually, she manages to restore balance in his life. One of Watanabe’s classmates and notorious playboy, Nagasawa (Tetsuji Tamayama, Who's Camus Anyway, The Letters), also introduces him to other girls.

Then a letter from Naoko arrives. In it, she asks Watanabe to come visit her in a secluded rural sanatorium. They meet and try to make love, but it is not the same, not like the first time. With tears in her eyes, Naoko confesses to Watanabe that her body is slowly changing and that she is having a difficult time controlling it. She also asks if he would still care for her if they can’t make love ever again.

Watanabe returns to Tokyo where Midori decides to test their relationship. She knows that he loves her but also feels that there is someone else he cares about.

Viewers unfamiliar with Haruki Murakami’s hugely popular novel will likely have a difficult time getting used to the film because its narrative is fractured into large, mostly uneven episodes that ignore key aspects from the progression of the relationships between Watanabe and the two girls he loves. Naturally, the monologues that link these episodes often feel out of sync, blurring the line that separates love and desire and causing one to wonder exactly what is going through Watanabe’s mind.

The manner in which Watanabe, Naoko, and Midori connect and express their feelings, however, is very moving. Their words ooze a great deal of that charming uncertainty that is typically present between young lovers. The way they look at each other before and after they make love is also wonderful (the touch of Taiwanese cinematographer Mark Lee, who worked with Christopher Doyle on Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood For Love and lensed Hou Hsiao-hsien’s Café Lumiere, is indeed felt throughout the entire film).

Ultimately, however, the film will likely impress just as many viewers as it will undoubtedly frustrate. Like all Tran Anh Hung films, it is very elegant and boasting a unique rhythm, as well as a top notch score by Jonny Greenwood (Radiohead’s lead guitarist), but next to impossible to warm up to. As some critics have suggested, it could be because Murakami’s novel is simply unfilmable.

Note: In 2010, Norwegian Wood was screened at the Venice Film Festival. Earlier this year, the film won Best Cinematographer Award (Mark Lee) at the Asian Film Awards.

Norwegian Wood Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented din its original aspect of 2.39:1, encoded with MPEG-4 and granted a 1080p transfer, Tran Anh Hung's Norwegian Wood arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Soda Pictures.

Soda's high-definition transfer is excellent -- fine object detail is very good, while clarity and contrast levels are consistently pleasing. Portions of the film have some rather bold color manipulations that look fantastic in 1080p (a few of the intimate scenes have a strong blue tint, while elsewhere bright yellow and green are the prominent colors). Natural light is also used in a variety of different ways.

Edge-enhancement is never a serious issue of concern. Selected sequences have an interesting thick look (contrast and colors are slightly boosted), but there are no traces of overzealous sharpening. Denoising corrections have not been performed. Also, the high-definition transfer is not plagued by heavy artifacts or halo effects. There are no serious stability issues to report in this review either. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

Norwegian Wood Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one audio track on this Blu-ray disc: Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Soda Pictures have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature. When turned on, they split the image frame and the black bar below it.

The Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio track is practically flawless. Falling rain or wind blowing, for instance, could be heard with impressive clarity. Jonny Greenwood's melancholic music score has also benefited from the strong loseless treatment - there are lovely solos that enhance the visuals exceptionally well. The dialog is crisp, clean, stable, and very easy to follow. The English translation is also impressive.

Norwegian Wood Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• The Making of Norwegian Wood - a rather long documentary with an abundance of raw footage from the shooting of the film and various cast and crew interviews. In French, English, and Japanese, with optional English subtitled. (53 min, 1080p).

• Japan Premiere - footage from the film's premiere in Japan. Director Tran Anh Hung and cast members also answer a series of questions. In French and Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (8 min, 1080p).

• Japan Opening Day - additional footage from the film's premiere in Japan. In French and Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (9 min, 1080p).

• Venice Featurette - footage from the film's screening at the Venice Film Festival. A short interview with Rinko Kikuchi, Kiko Mizuhara, and Ken'ichi Matsuyama is also included. There is also footage from the official press event after the film's screening. In French and Japanese, with optional English subtitles. (9 min, 1080p).

• Trailer - the official theatrical trailer for Norwegian Wood. In Japanese, with imposed English subtitles. (2 min, 1080p).

• Poster Gallery - a collection of international posters. (1 min, 1080p).

Norwegian Wood Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tran Anh Hung's Norwegian Wood is a beautifully lensed, genuinely moving film that will likely impress just as many viewers as it will undoubtedly frustrate. Because of the complex structure of the narrative, the film is incredibly difficult to warm up to. Still, I think that it is well worth seeing. The Blu-ray disc herein reviewed, courtesy of Soda Pictures, looks and sounds fantastic. RECOMMENDED.