Toru recalls his life in the 1960s, when his friend Kizuki killed himself and he grew close to Naoko, Kizuki's girlfriend, and another woman, the outgoing, lively Midori.
A Vietnamese servant girl, Mui, observes lives within two different Saigon families: the first, a woman textile seller with three boys and a frequently absent husband; the second, a handsome young pianist with his fiancée.
Director:
Anh Hung Tran
Stars:
Nu Yên-Khê Tran,
Man San Lu,
Thi Loc Truong
A young man who struggles through life by earning some money with his bicycle-taxi in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh city) gets contact to a group of criminals. They introduce him to the mafia-world ... See full summary »
Director:
Anh Hung Tran
Stars:
Le Van Loc,
Tony Chiu-Wai Leung,
Nu Yên-Khê Tran
Sachi is the owner of a piano bar. She is a single mother and her son is Takashi. One day, Sachi receives a phone call that her son Takashi died from a shark attack in Hanalei Bay, Hawaii. ... See full summary »
In Korea Town Los Angeles, a young man, Kengo, believes he's the son of God - that's what his mother told him since he was a young boy. He spends his days working his dead-end job and ... See full summary »
Upon hearing the song "Norwegian Wood," Toru (Matsuyama) remembers back to his life in the 1960s, when his friend Kizuki killed himself and he grew close to Naoko, Kizuki's girlfriend. As the two try, in very different ways, to contend with their grief, Toru forms a bond with another woman, Midori.Written by
Anonymous
Rinko Kikuchi actively pursued a role in the film. Initially director Anh Hung Tran wasn't keen on casting her because of her raised profile following Babel (2006) but her audition tape convinced him otherwise. See more »
Alternate Versions
The German TV version is 10 min shorter. See more »
I wasn't expecting too much, but the problem with this film is that it's basically just a heavily butchered-down version of the book. It's too short for its own good, and because of that you never begin to feel anything for what happens to the characters. Usually I'm not too interested in caring for the characters, but with a film like this it's all too important. It's like the director was trying to fit a 4-hour film into a 2-hour version. Now, it could have worked perfectly fine as a 2-hour version if the director had chosen to present the story in a different way. But as it is now, it's like watching the whole story from the book being fast-forwarded, while you get to see a few random scenes in it's entirety.
Readers of the book will be disappointed because the characters feels too shallow and underdeveloped, while general viewers will leave the cinemas with a big question mark. I won't begin to mention all those small bits of information in the film that are never explained unless you happened to have read the book. That's OK with me by all means, since I have read the book, but either way neither party should be pleased with the film.
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I wasn't expecting too much, but the problem with this film is that it's basically just a heavily butchered-down version of the book. It's too short for its own good, and because of that you never begin to feel anything for what happens to the characters. Usually I'm not too interested in caring for the characters, but with a film like this it's all too important. It's like the director was trying to fit a 4-hour film into a 2-hour version. Now, it could have worked perfectly fine as a 2-hour version if the director had chosen to present the story in a different way. But as it is now, it's like watching the whole story from the book being fast-forwarded, while you get to see a few random scenes in it's entirety.
Readers of the book will be disappointed because the characters feels too shallow and underdeveloped, while general viewers will leave the cinemas with a big question mark. I won't begin to mention all those small bits of information in the film that are never explained unless you happened to have read the book. That's OK with me by all means, since I have read the book, but either way neither party should be pleased with the film.