In a marketing coup, producers of the movie adaptation of Murakami Haruki’s “Noruwei no Mori” have obtained permission to use the Beatles song from which it takes its name as its closing theme. It is just the second Japanese production to have been granted the honor (the other was Shinoda Masahiro’s “Akuryoto” in 1981), and only the fourth in all. The decision is said to have come after extended negotiations with Apple Records and Sony Music. It is the first time for Murakami’s legendary 1987 novel to be filmed. It has sold over 10 million copies in Japan alone and has been translated into 36 languages.
The story follows businessman Watanabe Toru’s nostalgic recollections of the late 60s, memories revived when he hears the Beatles’ song “Norwegian Wood” while on a flight to Germany. It stars the highly regarded young actors Matsuyama Kenichi (24) and Oscar nominee Kikuchi Rinko (28). Jonny Greenwood of the British rock band Radiohead, who won a Grammy for his soundtrack to the Oscar-winning “There Will Be Blood,” has written the music. With Vietnamese-born French director Tran Anh Hung at the helm, filming took place early last year and the movie is due to be released in Japan on December 11.
Murakami is famously protective of his work and has previously only allowed one to be put on celluloid, a 2004 movie version of the short story “Tony Takitani.”
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