A story of love based on a coming of age story (Norwegian Wood - Movie and Book) - Thomas Weber

    The 2010 rendition of Norwegian Wood on film is a very interesting and unorthodox piece of media. The movie invariably demands the watcher having already read the Novel. This is an incredibly interesting idea and makes for a movie where context is assumed rather than given. However, where I truly find an issue with the movie is in its modulating of the story to focus on the concept and ideals around love instead of growth. From my reading of Norwegian wood, what stood out to me about the novel was its extremely realistic depiction of coming to age, at least in its sentiment, and the complexity of what it means to be and life as the person that you are. The movie takes out the majority of Watanabe, and many other characters', internal complexities and simplifies them for the sake of plot progression. This, I believe, to have been a disservice to the base material. Norwegian Wood is only on the surface a story about sex, love, and loss. At its core I believe it to be depicting the building of Watanabe's character through experience. Starting out as an intelligent and malleable person, slowly, through both good and bad decisions, finding himself. One of the scenes that was removed that I think particularly hurt this presentation of progression of Watanabe's character was omitting his pushback against Nagasawa after Himiko's death. In the novel, this marks a change in his character from constantly molding to those around him to solidifying the shape of his character.

    Another primary type of scene that was not showcased in the movie was the impact that his living situation in the dorm had on his character. More specifically, how his habits and attitude towards his environment slowly changed through small actions. One example of this can be found in his relationship with Nagasawa. From the start of the novel till about the halfway point Watanabe is always seeking out Nagasawa. But as the story progresses and Watanabe's character grows through his relationships with the women in his life, Nagasawa primarily seeks him out. Although small, these slight changes through the presentation of banality help cement Watanabe's character and situation whilst also showing his growth over the course of the novel. The movie primarily skips over these scenes and ideas, often trivializing them and their importance.