The adaptation of the huge international best seller by Haruki Murakami, (possibly his most straight forward work compared to the likes of the The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle or Kafka on the Shore), by Tran Anh Hung has been met with a mixed bag of reviews, although all were knocked out by Ping Bin Lee's photography and Johnny Greenwood's score and to be honest, that will be enough for me, but the prospect of Hung meets Murakami is far too intriguing for me to ignore.
I've been looking forward to Norwegian Wood since it premiered at the Venice Film Festival in September 2010 and as a big fan of Murakami's work, I'm not so sure if I'll be at an advantage or disadvantage, I think this is one film I won't be able to wait for until it's released on DVD.
Well, that's the lot this week, hopefully things will pick up soon, however over the course of the next couple of months we have all these to look forward to, so there's always hope:
Submarine (Ayoade), Route Irish (K.Loach), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Herzog), Oranges and Sunshine (J.Loach), Source Code (Jones), Meek's Cutoff (Reichardt), Sparrow (To), 13 Assassins (Mike), La Quattro Volte (Frammartino) and, hopefully at some point this year, The Tree of Life (Malick)
That's all for now, are there any future releases I've missed and should keep an eye out for?
Sounds interesting. I like Murakami quite a bit and a good translation of his work to the screen could be really fascinating. That said, I know I've read this book but it was long ago and I barely remember it.
ReplyDeleteI've seen Cave of Forgotten Dreams, it's real good. Herzog gets some amazing images of the cave paintings and really delves into the implications of the caves for human creativity, time, history and ways of thinking about the world. Well worth seeing.
Hey Ed,
ReplyDeleteI have to say the whole thing is really exciting me and I just hope I can get to see it at the cinema. It's not my favourite work by Murakami, I like his more out there stuff, but it is a beautiful read and if Hung can capture half out the books essence then I'll be more than pleased.
Having said that, I do love it when a director can pick up a tone and run with it, making something different and fresh from the same source material, so in another way I hope it has a whole fresh angle.
I just read about Cave of... in Sight and Sound and it sounds truly amazing, now it has your stamp of approval as well it will be hard to resist. I love how Herzog truly tries to delve into the true nurture of humanity, what makes us human and the way in which people see the world, it what's makes his documentaries so fascinating to watch.
You've listed a truly distinguished crew, but for me, above and beyond any of them, it's all about Herzog. I think he's the most brilliantly visionary and bewilderingly gifted Dr. Demento of all directors--from lugging a boat over the Andes to piercing the tragic delusions of Grizzly Man to wrenching searing performances from "My Best Fiend" crazy Klaus Kinski,and so much beyond, all with absolute lack of fear, the highest artistic values--and he's so human! And now there's The Cave of Forgotten Dreams to look forward to. For me, he is the only director whose movies reduce me to humility, and the thought, "Werner, we are not worthy."
ReplyDeleteCouldn't agree more with you, it's his humanity above all else that shines through, that moment in Grizzly Man where he pleads the woman never to listen to Treadwell's last moments leave such a lump in the throat.
ReplyDeleteHe's a true visionary with such an unique, inquisitive and bombastic approach to filmmaking - having to live it to film it - that the results, sometimes patchy are never dull and always truly remarkable.
I absolutely agree with you. I do have to correct one careless statement in my Comment--actually there are TWO directors whose work is so staggeringly sublime I feel unworthy to view it. The other one is Kieslowski. RED is probably my favorite film on earth, and parts of the DECALOGUE (in my opinion) have never been approached by anybody.
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