Destroyed by the freshness of youth

Why watch a movie based on a novel you know so well? I think it is probably the instinct to want to see those imaginary images eventually become real objects. This also has a downside, we will always be disappointed, without exception. Like "Norwegian Wood". I read it back and forth dozens of times in high school. But eight years have passed and I haven't seen it again. Watching a movie now, you can still think of the plot behind every bridge, which should be regarded as a nostalgic act. Chen Yingying is also a person who likes nostalgia, I presume. His "The Smell of Green Papaya" and "Vertical Sunshine" both have a bit of that energy, beautifying the world in memory into a paradise but with a touch of sadness. From this point of view, he should be a very suitable director for the film version of this novel. He does play to his strengths, stretching the lyrical tension of the landscape to an extreme. Especially the scene where Watanabe and Naoko say goodbye in the snow is an emotional peak that the novel has not reached. However, I think that although the art is moving, this film is by no means a touch of sadness, but a kind of youthful loneliness.

I remember reading this novel in high school that everyone was most interested in the various descriptions of sex in the novel, whether it was implied or straightforward, it was enjoyable. Of course, there are many elements of obscenity, and more importantly, the rare candor. Watching the movie, however, I recalled the novel, including Midori's desire to make a big deal after her father's death, alluding to a sense of loneliness. This kind of loneliness is difficult to get rid of, and it can only be completely vented through physical intercourse. Naoko and Watanabe used this way to say goodbye to the deceased, to say goodbye to their past. It's hard to say whether there is love between the men and women in the play, maybe in such a state, the emotion has already surpassed the intensity of love. It's a pity that this film is like a work under the supervision of the China Film Bureau, and it seems so ambiguous and subtle everywhere. Lost in the original feeling that people are connected in various spiritual or physical ways. It seems that a group of strangers were brought in to play a movie and finally separated from each other, and there was no spiritual communication at all.

I guess it would still be great if this movie was made in '97 or '98 (that's the deadline). In the Japanese film industry, Imamura Shohei is still there, and there are still strong and frank directors such as Morita Yoshimitsu. Japan has not had a strong director for a long time to interpret the close spiritual and physical connection between people. The popularity of young and fresh actors like Kenichi Matsuyama and Yu Aoi undoubtedly shows the weakness of Japanese films in the past decade, and even the literary strength is not as strong.

When the movie just came out, a friend told me excitedly that he had downloaded it. The version I've read to this day is the one that he downloaded for the first time. It seems that it was originally scheduled to be released on Valentine's Day. A friend said he felt it was inappropriate, because this is not a story about love, but a tribute to youth.

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