If we talk about Chen Yingxiong's directorial trajectory, the failure of the creation of "Norwegian Forest" is not an accident. The Vietnamese director, who was successful in his early years, revealed his true self after playing three tricks, and was trapped for unknown reasons. It could be anxiety, it could be crisis. Anyway, since 2000, he has basically disappeared. A few years ago, a multinational production of "Walking with the Rain" was a complete failure, leaving no room for it. After all, for many directors, it is difficult to be active for ten years, and it is quite difficult to make a classic movie in a lifetime. It's good to see it, it's a famous saying of truth.
Many people think that the film's problem lies in Chen Yingxiong's foreign identity, but this is not the case. After all, for Vietnam, Chen Yingxiong is more like an international director (like Yang Dechang and Hou Hsiao-hsien in the 1990s), who is out of touch with the country and connects with France and other places, and there is no such thing as contaminating the atmosphere of developing countries. If you have to be theoretical, local Japanese directors may have an innate advantage in shooting period dramas, but for life and death and love stories in the 1960s and 1970s, there are very few active directors who are qualified and competent. . Furthermore, it is another matter to gain access to Haruki Murakami's discernment. Take Xing Dingxun's filming of Mishima's "Spring Snow" as an example, there are stars and the local cards are played, and the results are just so-so. For "Norwegian Wood", if Chen Yingying defines it as a product limited to affecting Japan, it is tantamount to asking for a dead end. But once it was expanded to the international arena, the things he had to consider immediately multiplied several times.
The so-called international version, one is the casting of actors, such as Rinko Kikuchi, the intention is obvious, and the shortcomings after the film are very obvious; the other is the international creative team, Chen Yingxiong and his wife, Japanese actors, Li Pingbin photography, Johnny ·Greenwood Music, to be honest, it is difficult for Chen Yingxiong to read the novel by himself. It is almost impossible for everyone to understand it. The third is the film festival route. Perhaps due to these three reasons, "Norwegian Forest" is difficult to ride a tiger. It is impossible to put down the air and make a box-office film honestly, and it is impossible to ignore it and kick the original work. Comeback.
Some friends pointed out that the film does not conform to the Japanese aesthetic system, and there are too many moving scenes. He felt that "Norwegian Wood" should be a fixed shot that imitated Ozu, making the audience's heart sink. In fact, Japan is not only Ozu, but the sports long shots of Mizoguchi Kenji and others are also superb, euphemistic and delicate. If you recall the Songzhu New Wave in the 1960s, most of those radical directors fought against the system and put politics first. Few of their films are as personal as Haruki Murakami, indulging in sentimental memories. As far as Li Pingbin was concerned, he was free to move and still, and he did not obey or coerce. Therefore, the problem of "Norwegian Forest" is not due to photography. On the contrary, if the characters and lines are attributed to the original work, then the contribution made by Chen Yingying is probably the process of visual presentation. After all, he can only Cut content, control pacing, direct actors and cinematography. If Norwegian Wood has one of the few good ones, then the best of photography must be number one. It should even be fortunate that the film was not made into a stupid head-to-head fight. Most of the time, it's better solved with long takes, with monologues and voiceovers. Take the conversation between Watanabe and Naoko on the grass as an example. The back and forth several times, and the nearly four-minute long shot of the movement perfectly showed Naoko's nervousness and mood swings. If you switch to other lens methods to deal with, I am afraid the effect will be weakened a lot. Of course, Chen Yingxiong went a step further. He made sports long shots throughout and made them a feature.
From the early studio shooting of "The Taste of Green Papaya" to the entry into the landscape of "The Taste of Summer", Chen Yingxiong has no problems with his skills. Generally speaking, the colors in memories will always fade, and Japanese movies often pursue lightness and weakening, but "Norwegian Forest" still emphasizes the green in Chen Yingxiong's works, which is so thick that it can't be dissolved, and it can be confused into tropical. So Chen Yingying did not lose his ego, he preserved his ego very well. In addition, there is a lot of water, swimming pools, water, rain and snow, to fit the female characters and be close to the mood of the movie.
There are particularly good parts of the film, like Reiko playing "Norwegian Forest" to Watanabe and Naoto, like a purely technical point of view, Chen Yingxiong is really good at creating certain scenes, and knows how to make good use of light and ambient sound. . But there are too many bad things in the film, which are also visible at a glance. Like the opening, the original story is that I fell into memories at the Hamburg airport. "Norwegian Forest" is a story full of memories. It can pull me back to my youth at any time, just like opening a book, you can start from that paragraph. A story full of life and death has been simplified into an unexplained unrequited love, a meeting in the snow or something, which is really disappointing. Not to mention watching Rinko Kikuchi, who is almost 30 years old, say that she is 20 years old. When Naoko fell into a collapse, as a viewer, I also collapsed when I looked at that old face. This is clearly a face with a strong sense of modernity, with clear outlines, and it is still difficult to get used to playing Naoko. In addition, Midoriko was simplified and Reiko was beautified, both of which caused a backlash. On the key sex and death, Chen Yingxiong reproduced Muyue's suicide, but omitted the clues related to Naoko. He focused on Watanabe and Naoko several times, but omitted some touches from Reiko and Hatsumi. No wonder a friend said that Chen Yingying might as well shoot a little longer.
I really don't like the ending of the movie, whether it's Watanabe screaming at the sea with frost on his face, or Reiko begging Watanabe twice, it's completely shocking. Some things, don't just describe them, let alone assert them without authorization. There will be ideas for a while, and there will be no ideas for a while. In this kind of swing, Chen Yingying completely lost the idea of forming, and did not really summarize the main points of the original work. He relies too much on monologues and doesn't create a sense of aftertaste. He wanted to make it easy for young people to contact this story, but pure love was not at the right time. In my opinion, "Norwegian Wood" should be a suite of past events. There was once a book, there was once a girl, there were so many things, but unfortunately Chen Yingying handled it a bit bluntly and sloppily, lacking in fluency and more than craftsmanship. As a result, there will be no "there used to be a movie" feeling in the future. It's really a pity, or maybe it got it wrong from the start. 【International Herald Tribune】
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