"What if I can't get wet ever again?"
Set in 1960s Japan,
Norwegian Wood (Noruwei no mori) is a film about
depression, loss and sexuality. After his best friend Kizuki commits suicide
aged 17, Watanabe (Ken-ichi Matsuyama) moves to Tokyo and enrols at
University in an attempt to escape the depressing nature of his home town. By
chance one day he meets his dead friend’s ex-girlfriend Naoko (Rinko Kikuchi)
and the two begin a loving but strained relationship. Naoko has never truly got
over the death of Kizuki and one day disappears, eventually turning up in a sanatorium
deep in the forest. Watanabe tries to maintain both a friendly and sexual
relationship with the depressed Naoko but this is made difficult by her mental
state and the introduction of the outgoing and self confident Midori (Kiko Mizuhara)
who vies for Watanabe’s affections.
