Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung crossed cultural and linguistic borders to direct his latest film, “Norwegian Wood,” based on the cult coming-of-age Japanese novel.
The Oscar-nominated director, who has taken home prizes from both Cannes and Venice, filmed the love story with an entirely Japanese cast.
Tran told reporters Thursday, the day his film is premiering at the Venice Film Festival in competition for the Golden Lion, that he didn’t try to make a Japanese film — and in fact sought a set design that would not be completely familiar to Japanese audiences.
“I want the Japanese viewer to have a different take and see their own decor in a different way, that it is somewhat exotic and different in their eyes,” Tran said. He called in a set designer from previous movies who would understand his aims.
“Otherwise this staggered view would not have been possible with just a troupe that was completely Japanese.”
The film, like the book, is set in Tokyo in the late 1960s. Watanabe, played by Kenichi Matsuyama, is a young university student struggling to choose between two women, one the girlfriend of his best friend who committed suicide, and the other self-confident and independent, representing the future.
The novel by Haruki Murakami has won worldwide popularity, and many directors had approached the author to adapt it to film. More than 10 million copies of the book have been sold in Japan alone, with 2.6 million more sold in another 33 languages.
Tran said he didn’t know why he was chosen, but producer Shinji Ogawa said Murakami wanted an Asian director to project the region’s aesthetic.
“Obviously we did meet with Murakami. Not just once,” Tran said. Murakami made many notes on the first screen play, which Tran called “a fairly important document,” but said they were too numerous to elaborate.
“After this exchange of comments and notes, Murakami said, ‘Go with the film you have in your head. What you have to do is make the most beautiful film possible.'”
“Norwegian Wood” is among 22 films, plus a still-to-be announced surprise film, competing for the Golden Lion, which will be awarded Sept. 11.
Tran won the Golden Lion in 1995 for “Cyclo,” which tells the hard-life tale of a young rickshaw driver, and his first film, “The Scent of Green Papaya,” took home the Camera d’Or from Cannes and was nominated for an Academy Award. “Norwegian Wood” is his fifth film.
Netflix Series “The Leopard” Spots Classic Italian Novel, Remakes It As A Sumptuous Period Drama
"The Leopard," a new Netflix series, takes the classic Italian novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa and transforms it into a sumptuous period piece showing the struggles of the aristocracy in 19th-century Sicily, during tumultuous social upheavals as their way of life is crumbling around them.
Tom Shankland, who directs four of the eight episodes, had the courage to attempt his own version of what is one of the most popular films in Italian history. The 1963 movie "The Leopard," directed by Luchino Visconti, starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon and Claudia Cardinale, won the Palme d'Or in Cannes.
One Italian critic said that it would be the equivalent of a director in the United States taking "Gone with the Wind" and turning it into a series, but Shankland wasn't the least bit intimidated.
He said that he didn't think of anything other than his own passion for the project, which grew out of his love of the book. His father was a university professor of Italian literature in England, and as a child, he loved the book and traveling to Sicily with his family.
The book tells the story of Don Fabrizio Corbera, the Prince of Salina, a tall, handsome, wealthy aristocrat who owns palaces and land across Sicily.
His comfortable world is shaken with the invasion of Sicily in 1860 by Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was to overthrow the Bourbon king in Naples and bring about the Unification of Italy.
The prince's family leads an opulent life in their magnificent palaces with servants and peasants kowtowing to their every need. They spend their time at opulent banquets and lavish balls with their fellow aristocrats.
Shankland has made the series into a visual feast with tables heaped with food, elaborate gardens and sensuous costumes.... Read More