Film director calls it joint work with author
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France-based film director Tran Anh Hung arrived in Hanoi yesterday and met the media to talk about the release of his eagerly-awaited Rung Na Uy film, “Norwegian Wood”, on December 31.
He spoke exclusively to Tuoi Tre.
Was there any trouble with your producer?
There has been good cooperation from the producer. My final job now before presenting “Norwegian Wood” to the public is to talk to the local media.
This is the time I can talk about my film, discuss about it, and forget it. I am preparing to let it become a part of the past and begin a new project.
What reactions or remarks from audiences have surprised you the most?
It was for my film “Mui du du xanh” (The Scent of Green Papaya) when a spectator told me the film serves as his remedy. He watched it every day and thanks to it got peace of mind.
You once said audiences should learn to understand a film. What do you expect from audiences watching “Norwegian Wood”?
That’s right. And for me, a film director, I know I should find a way to balance audiences’ demand for both knowledge and entertainment.
For “Norwegian Wood,” which is adapted from a book written by Japanese Haruki Murakami, it is like drawing a portrait. So first of all, the portrait must look like the man I was drawing.
But I have choice to make it look alike in some details, not exactly all details.
If “Norwegian Wood” is well adapted, it will be both Murakami’s and my product.
And in the film, I don’t convey merely a story, but a feeling. What I felt from reading the book is also conveyed in the film.
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Film director Tran Anh Hung
Murakami, the author of the book Norwegian Wood, describes sex meticulously but creates a sense of freshness and purity. Do you agree and how do you capture it in your film?
Sex in film has the same freshness and purity and is not merely for attracting audiences.
What have you learnt by teaching cinema to Hanoi youths for the last 10 years?
Working with young people makes me feel younger myself and I’m interested in it.
I like discussing with them. We exchanged a lot of questions and understood one another more.
How would you feel if “Norwegian Wood” does not attract as many audience members as you expect?
For me, the audiences are different from crowds.
A film can’t satisfy all viewers. I may be disappointed if someone who read the book doesn’t come to see the film. But it’ll be another matter if they come to see but don’t like the film.
It’s difficult to express your feelings when presenting a film to the public. It’s somehow like abandoning your baby.
“Norwegian Wood,” adapted from a novel of the same name by Japanese Haruki Murakami, will be screened across Vietnam from December 31 following its premiere at the Venice Film Festival five months ago. A nostalgic story of loss and sexuality and directed by Tran Anh Hung, it opened in Japan on December 11 and Taiwan on the 17th, and opens in Hong Kong on the 30th. The story’s protagonist and narrator is Toru Watanabe, who looks back on his days as a freshman university student in Tokyo. Through Toru’s reminiscences we see him develop relations with two very different women -- the beautiful but emotionally troubled Naoko and the outgoing and lively Midori. The novel is set in Tokyo in the late 1960s, a time when Japanese students, like those in many other nations, were protesting against the established order. While it serves as the backdrop against which the events of the novel unfold, the novel portrays the student movement as largely weak-willed and hypocritical. |
