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Norwegian Wood is Japanese cult author Haruki Murakami’s most popular novel – but it’s also long, slow and introspective.

Any film version needs to work hard to avoid monotony. Alas, Vietnamese writer/director Tran Anh Hung seems hamstrung by reverence, as monotony sets in early and doesn’t lift.

After his best friend Kizuki kills himself, student Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama) embarks on an affair with Kizuki’s girlfriend (Rinko Kikuchi), but is distracted by Kiko Mizuhara.

True, the film looks gorgeous, but that hardly makes up for the atmosphere of resigned glumness.