< Home / Interview / Critic / Bio / My articles in Japanese >

Norwegian Wood

Coverage by Nobuhiro Hosoki

Story : NORWEGIAN WOOD is a moving story of loss and sexuality set in Tokyo in the late 1960s against a time of global instability. Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) looks back on his days as a freshman university student living in Tokyo. Through his reminiscences, we see him develop relationships with two very different women, the beautiful yet emotionally troubled Naoko (Rinko Kikuchil), and the outgoing, lively Midori ( Kiko Mizuhara.)

Opened January 6, 2012

Runtime:2 hr. 13 min.

 

Interview with Director Tran Anh Hung

 

(Q) : This novel was such a best seller. Pretty much everyone in Japan read that book. Was there a little bit of pressure, a heavy task to actually make it into a film? Because people have so many preconceived notions in their head.

(Tran Anh Hung) : I knew about this fact really very late in the process. When I read the book in '94 and I had the desire to adapt it I didn't want to know anything about the book or the writer, so I didn't know this fact. And it was the only book from Murakami that I read because I didn't want to know anything else to keep it really fresh and specific in my mind. So it's only when I met with the producer and his team, then step by step slowly they told me how much this book was important for the people in Japan. But since there was a lot of pressure to make a good movie, and this pressure was much bigger than the outside pressure. That's why it was not disturbing for me.

(Q) : What do you think is the biggest difference between your film and the novel?

(Tran Anh Hung) : There are many differences because when you move from an art form to another one you have to change a lot of things. But what was important for me was I need to be really faithful to the book. I mean faithful in the feeling, the emotion, not faithful because you cannot keep the structure of the narration. You cannot keep it because it's another form of art. But for me it's like doing the portrayal of someone in needs to look like this person. It cannot be someone else. So it was important that Murakami recognize his work in the movie, and he saw the movie and he liked it very much. So I was happy about it.

(Q) : You depicted the lives of people in Vietnam in your first few films, and also history and politics too. Then you had a long break as a director and you made a poetic action film and then "Norwegian Wood." Could you talk about your transformation as a storyteller?

(Tran Anh Hung) : Oh I don't know. I really don't know. It does not depend on me really to make this movie or another one, because for instance after "Xich lo," my second movie, I wanted to make a comedy but I couldn't. Then I made "Vertical Ray of the Sun," then we moved to another project, I worked on it for two or three years and it collapsed. That's why there is a gap of eight years between the two movies. It collapsed and then I had the opportunity to make "I Come with the Rain," and it was a very bad experience because of the producer.

And then suddenly we learned that Murakami accepted to give the permission to adapt one of his short stories so it was possible. And I asked him and he said yes, so that was the opportunity. If he didn't allow anyone to adapt then it would be something else. I was there, I have several projects, like today I have four different, and I hope that in five years I would make one out of it. It's very difficult to finance a movie, especially that kind of movie.

(Q) : Speaking of Murakami, I heard that you actually wrote a letter to him. Is that how you got permission?

(Tran Anh Hung) : Yes.

(Q) : I was also curious because I'm pretty sure a lot of filmmakers up until then approached this novel to make it into a film. Was he specific about what was the reason he allowed you to make a film?

(Tran Anh Hung) : I asked him at the right time. Maybe now he has a feeling that he needs to have some distance with his work and let it go somehow. Before that I think it was too close. I guess, because we never discussed it. And also, the other guess what that maybe he saw in my movies something that could fit his book, that's why he accepted. But I don't have a more precise idea about it.

(Q) : What is your favorite scene of the movie? You mentioned that you first read the book in 1994; you must have some parts that you really liked. Did you think you got the essence of that part in the movie?

(Tran Anh Hung) : Yes when I read the book and what kept me during all these years, what kept the desire was one scene in the book that I knew would not be in the movie. It's the moment where Watanabe was in Arizona I think, in the desert. He's waiting for an interview to interview someone and there was this beautiful sunset that set everything red in the place and suddenly he understood the feeling that he had when he was in a taxi with Hatsumi. It's about youth, it's about the yearning, something that you wish to experience and you never experience finally in your life. And this is something about melancholy, this is very powerful, and that was my favorite scene in the book somehow.

Then later on when you start to work on it it's different. In the movie I don't know, there are several scenes. The lovemaking scene at the birthday party was important, and Naoko's confession in the middle, when she explained to Watanabe what happened, this is also a very beautiful scene. The morning by the sea after Naoko's death. I don't know; there are many.

(Q) : About Naoko's character. At first you think Rinko will not be Naoko's character. What was your first image of Naoko?

(Tran Anh Hung) : I always leave everything very open. I don't have a precise idea that she should be like this or like that because it's so rich to meet with actors. When they appear sometimes you like something and you say oh, Naoko should be like this. So it gives you a more precise idea of Naoko, and the person has nothing to do with her. But it gives you the idea and you know. And then when you see someone that is Naoko it's very obvious. You don't have to analyze anything, it just appears that it's obvious, and that's what happened with Rinko. Because at the beginning I didn't think that she would fit the role first because of her age. I think she was too old for the role. I had two different possibilities that I was not really happy with. And then since Rinko insisted to pass the audition I said yes at the end, and when I saw it it was obvious.

(Q) : We just met Rinko just now and she said she felt some kind of distance between you and her while filming. She said it was probably your intention. Could you talk about this?

(Tran Anh Hung) : It's obvious because she carries a pen, something really dark inside of her. Because of her role she carries something really dark and painful inside of her. So when you shoot a scene where she has to cry it's really emotional, I mean I feel very moved by it. I always want to hug her, to say "You're great." But no, I need to keep the distance because she has to be like this for the whole shooting until the end. Because hugging her would be a relief for her. Somehow it would put an end to it, so I didn't want to do it. She has to keep it until the end, that's why I kept some distance with her. I never met with her outside of the set for dinner or a drink.

(Q) : How about the process of casting Kiko Mizuhara? That was her first acting role. When I read the novel I had a certain image of her that is perfect for her. If you let any actor play that you have a preconceived notion, it might be destroying that. But it's like a first time actor, it has a certain freshness to it that has that in the novel. Did you felt sort of like that, like this would be perfect, instead of just casting regular actors?

(Tran Anh Hung) : It was a big challenge. I'm quite grateful to the producer and the financiers to accept this idea, because it was a big risk and her audience was not perfect. I had to see her several times trying to work again and again, and at the end it was not obvious .But then I said it's still the best choice for me because having some time with her I realized that she has that very strong quality, which is the courage.

She never gives up and I was really hard with her, really mean with her, but still she kept being really courageous and working hard and everything. The other thing is that obviously when you look at her you can feel that she cannot harm anyone, especially Watanabe. She will be someone that can heal Watanabe somehow by the way she's picking, the way she behaved. And it's on that that I bet that she can be Midori. Of course she's not exactly the Midori of the book because the Midori of the book I think if there is one character in the book that is not Japanese it's Midori.

(Q) : That's exactly what I felt. When I read that she's the only one that has a Western sense of thinking of a mindset that's totally different in the Japanese time in the '70s.

(Tran Anh Hung) : It's very important what you said, and I would like to say that she's not even a westerner. What was great with her character is that she represents not a woman but the inner thinking of a woman. And having created this character, gives a very strong feeling of intimacy between the reader and the book because it's like reading what is inside of your head, I mean for a woman. Because a woman, she needs also to talk about sex, about everything, and this desire she cannot have in society because it's not acceptable. But it's there. It exists in her mind, and this character is the incarnation of this idea.

That's why the book is so successful, and I think that Murakami is great because of this, to make people accept a character that really doesn't exist somehow. And it was very difficult and when you do the casting you can see that no one can play the role. No one. It's amazing. I was really anxious about it until I met with Kiko and Kiko gave me something that I said oh, now it's possible. It will not be exactly the Midori of the book, but she will be a very good Midori. It's like an opera; it's only an interpretation, and there is never an absolute interpretation of an opera. It's only at that date, this year, there was a conductor and you exist to be a soprano, and then we make the interpretation. It's not absolute.

(Q) : One of the fascinating things about this film that's the Hatsumi character, who's possessing a little bit of Naoko and a little bit of the Midori characters. It's really kind of hard to play the contrast like that. It's a very tiny character but it's a really key character.

(Tran Anh Hung) : It's a very good idea. I really like Hatsumi. I think you're right. The mechanism inside of Murakami's book it's something amazing. You can say that a woman in life is a mix of Naoko, who is a kind of femme fatale, a kind of poison. Really fascinating for men. We always want to taste that kind of poison because it's very strong and it's dangerous. And the other side is the wife, is Midori. She's someone who tried to understand the man, who can wait, who can forgive. It's amazing. And Hatsumi is indeed the mix of both. She can be a wife. And I think that a woman in life should be like Hatsumi. Sometimes she's toxic, like Naoko, and sometimes she's a woman, she's a wife, like Midori. It's very interesting. And when you think about the mechanism of sex inside Nagasawa, the sex that he has with a different woman before having sex with Naoko, everything is so perfect in terms of the mechanism. Because if he was a man that doesn't know women, the scene with Naoko at the buffet night, it would not work.

He would not be able to bring her to the pleasure and everything. It's important that this sex scene is successful for Naoko because it is possible that will destroy her, because she couldn't make love with Kizuki, and then now she can't make love with Watanabe. It totally destroys her, that's why it's important that Watanabe is trained by Nagasawa with women. It's really perfect, and you can go until the lovemaking scene with Reiko. There is another mechanism about its kind of redemption because he feels guilty towards Naoko because he couldn't save her. So he feels guilty about it, and the fact that he sleeps with Reiko it means that he saved her by giving her back her sexuality so she can start a new life.

And this makes his guilt lighter so he can make up with life and go to Midori and say "I love you." It's quite disturbing. How is it possible? Naoko died, we see him crying, mourning by the sea. The next scene he's making love with another woman, and the next scene he's saying "I love you" to another woman. It's quite disturbing. It's not acceptable somehow. But when you read the book it's natural. When you see the movie it's natural, because of this very secret mechanism of soul inside of it and it's beautiful. A book is not successful without a right reason, and the reason is all this in the book. That's why it's successful worldwide.

(Q) : You're always conscious of how you approach this, the ascetic approach and the visual. How did you approach working with the cinematographer?

(Tran Anh Hung) : Very simple. We would never talk about nationality, we would only talk about cinema. And everybody spoke the same language, which is the language of cinema. You think that I'm very conscious about aesthetics; it's not true. It's something that comes very late in the process. I mean how to be confident about the feeling of what I can see when I shoot the movie. And everything is done during the preparation in this purpose, meaning that I need to have everything and then on the set for the first time I think about how I will shoot it. During the writing of the script I never think about image. I never have any faces, never have any camera movement, nothing. It's only at the last moment when we are on the set with everybody, when I see the color of everything that I chose before and then something happens.

I ask the actors to try something and they start something and then I say "Okay, let's do it like this," and then we start to talk with Mark and that's it. With Mark I have only one request; the skin, Make it obvious because I want the people to have a very physical feeling of the image not only beautiful pictures because this you can find it in MTV, everywhere. You have beautiful pictures everywhere you look around you can see it. But cinema is an art of incarnation. You have to feel the flesh, you have to feel the skin. This is the only thing. And I told him I don't want to have a precise style of light for the movie because it's boring for me. Some movies you see the same light from the beginning to the end; I find it quite boring. What is important is to have the right feeling for the scene, for each scene, so it could be different; I don't care.

(Q) : The story is deeply connected to life and death and we constantly think about it. I believe you must have thought about the theme of the story. Did you have any revelations or realization's thinking about it?

(Tran Anh Hung) : No, because I never in my life experienced the death of someone close to me before doing this movie. So it's something that you can feel from the book, and my goal was to express it through the film for the people. I have no revelation about it.

(Q) : Was there any specific reason that you're working in an Asian country? I'm pretty sure right after "The Scent of Green Papaya" they got a lot of offers from Western countries like the United States or any European countries. Was there any particular reason that you wanted to stay in an Asian country?

(Tran Anh Hung): No, it's not the case. I mean yes, after my first movie I received some offers. They sent me a list of scripts, things like that, but I was not moved by all this so I said no. I wish I could do something different in a different country only because it's a different experience and it will give me another way of working and I like it. I like the fact that for each movie I change my way of working, for each movie I change my way of writing the script because I don't want to do the same thing because each project has its own way to be developed. So I like this process. It's just by chance, it's random.

(Q) : What is your next move? Are you currently working on any other movies?

(Tran Anh Hung): Yes. I'm writing a script. It will be a French movie for the first time. I live in France; I never made a French movie. Why? Because I didn't find something that moved me. And this time I a book, it was of use. I had to do it.

End.