Wednesday, July 26, 2006


Managed to get down to Arnolfini this evening to see the film “Tony Takitani”. It’s a Japanese film, based on a short story by Haruki Murakami. Most of the English reviews that I have read have been rather unkind about the film, however I’d have to say that if you are a fan of Murakami’s work you find plenty to admire in the film version.

True, the pace is languid and the story slight, yet I thought it was a wonderful evocation of loneliness and loss. Not a car chase of fight scene in sight, just a simple meditation on the events that shape a life.

Bristol looked pretty great this evening as I walked along the dockside to Arnolfini, bumped into a couple of friends in the cinema and another one on the bus on the way home. How nice it is to live in this city of ours, despite the lack of any interesting record shops.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I’ve never imagined that I would see Issei Ogata and Rie Miyazawa’s face here. I love both actors. The only Murakami’s novel I have ever read is “Norwegian Wood”. I suppose most of all of my generation might have read it. It was such huge phenomenon when it was published. I tried other ones, but I thought some were really difficult to understand. I thought then that his story doesn’t get along with Japanese language or doesn’t have ordinary flow of Japanese literature. It feels like those were written in other languages. Later I’ve read on British newspaper that he writes his stories in English at first (He studied American literature at university.) These days I see many translation of his novel here, so some day, I would like to read those in English and see how I feel this time.

Tom said...

Glad to know that I gave nice shock! Have you seen this film?

Interesting to read your comments about Murakami. I've read him saying that the critics in Japan don't really like his work, it sounds as though his relationship with the the people of Japan is a little strained.

I'd be interested to hear what you think of his stuff if you read it English maybe something like "South of the boarder, west of the sun" would be a good one to try.

Michelle Fluttering Butterflies said...

I quite like Murakami.. I might have to check out this movie!

Tom said...

If you enjoy the slightly detached / restrained style of Murakami, then I'm sure that you would enjoy the film. It's very quiet and understated, I really liked it.