Movie Review #12: Norwegian Wood

I got the chance to go see this movie recently at my fave theater, the IFC, with my lady and a few of her friends. I love that theater so much. I feel like I could probably spend an entire day looking at the dvds at the popcorn stand. I’m not even talking about watching those movies. I’m just talking about looking at the boxes. I love it. Ok, enough love for the IFC.

OK, so I think I’ve decided that I love this movie. But that opinion has been come to despite the fact that I was fairly annoyed by the situations in general. I’m not a huge fan of movies that are about depression and suicide. But that being said, I think this is a movie that is truly brilliant.

I’d like to finish talking about the story/the writing before I get into gushing over the direction. As I said, I don’t usually do well with depression as a theme in movies. It just doesn’t please me. But this was more. It was about attachment. It was about honor and commitment. It was also about misunderstanding one’s self in youth. There is so much that can be understood from this movie’s writing that I was able to look past the depression. It also might have been more palatable for me because she was closer to crazy than depressed.

But what made this movie great writing wise was the fact tha main character made it out of the craziness. He was able to fall into it, commit to the craziest of situations, but still was able to find his way out. He was able to take all the bullshit that had happened in his life and turn it into strength. I really appreciate that aspect.

As for the direction…. WOW. The location scouting was so amazing. The performances were great and the choices that were made throughout were great. The sound editing, the set design, the clothing choices, the ebbs and flows of emotion. I really appreciate the great work that was done here. I really look forward to watching this movie again now that I know the story line so i can appreciate some more of the art that went into making it. There is so much to see here that I want to see it all again.

This is Anh Hung Tran’s most recent release as a Director, so I wonder which direction (pardon the pun) his career is going… more mainstream or more precise. I’ll have to take a look at some of his earlier work to see if there is anything of interest there. Any suggestions?