Japanese author Haruki Murakami has established himself as one of the world’s biggest literary giants in the past couple of decades. Murakami is a bestselling author globally, but some awards, like the Nobel Prize, have been considered his for the taking for years now — he has not managed to nab the Nobel Prize for Literature yet. Regardless, he has helped bring Japanese literature to the forefront of mainstream literary publishing, helping pave the way for other contemporary authors such as Sayaka Murata and Mieko Kawakami.
Murakami’s work is a master look at surrealism, precise wording and imagery, and a departure from traditional Japanese literary styles. He looks to Western literature for inspiration, weaving in jazz and pop culture references to create a specific ambiance that sucks the reader into its world even if Japanese society was completely unfamiliar to them beforehand. When translated into the film world, a movie based on Murakami seeps with his unique energy and modes of characterization. Books being turned into movies may draw a sigh of disappoint, but not with Murakami. In fact, director Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest movieDrive My Car is the most recent adaptation of Murakami’s work and, with its multiple Academy Award nominations, arguably the most successful. That being said, here are the best movie based on Haruki Murakami’s books.
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6 A Girl, She is 100%
A Girl, She is 100% is a short film, but despite its run time, it still is captivating. The film is based on Murakami’s short story “On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning,” which appeared in his collection The Elephant Vanishes. The story tells the perspective of a young man who walks past the 100% girl of his dreams, a girl that looks and seems perfect for him. This film was Yamakawa’s second adaption of a Murakami short story — previously, they had done a short film titled Attack on a Bakery — and it plays upon the theme of love at first glance. It is complete with the music, fashion, filmmaking decisions, and aesthetics used to draw out the story’s themes and motifs, making A Girl, She is 100% a faithful adaptation to the original.
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5 Hear the Wind Sing
Toho Company
Released in 1981, Hear the Wind Sing was adapted from Murakami’s first novel to be published. Like the youthful sense its author had at publication, its characters embody the youths working and living in the city of Kobe. One could argue that Murakami’s novel lacks a sense of direction, that it tends to ramble on the page, but the film manages to lure in the viewers through the nostalgia seeping through its scenes and the playful nature of being young. The main character has returned to his hometown for summer break while studying at a university in Tokyo, and this feeling of being at home and a young adult adds a sense of charm.
4 Tony Takitani
Celluloid Dreams
One of Murakami’s signature character traits is a deep loneliness that permeates every part of a character’s life. Tony Takitani is one of the earlier adaptations of his work, one that brings one of these characters to life in a way pivotal to the movie’s story. Tony Takitani is ostracized by society due to his English name, leading him down a lonely lifestyle where he never truly fits into Japanese society. The story depicts a series of vignettes where he falls in love for the first time with his wife, and, despite how smitten he is, there is a massive fear inside him that one day she will disappear, and he will be lonely once more.
3 Norwegian Wood
Toho
Norwegian Wood was directed by Vietnamese director Tran Ahn Hung, who was making his first film in Japanese. Toru Watanabe is a young man studying at a university in Tokyo, mocks his roommate, and has just lost his best friend from home due to suicide. Watanabe then enters a love triangle between his dead best friend’s girlfriend (Rinko Kikuchi) and a classmate (Kiko Mizuhara). Norwegian Wood is a story of loss, sexuality, and redemption set in 1960s Tokyo, a period where students were beginning to rebel against the traditional, strict standards the older generation had imposed upon them.
2 Burning
CGV Arthouse
South Korean director Lee Chang-dong is one of the most prolific filmmakers in South Korea. His 2018 film Burning, adapted from Haruki Murakami’s short story “Barn Burning,” was the first Korean film to be named to the Oscar shortlist. This is a feat surpassed with the release of Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite. Burning also won the FIPRESCI International Critics’ Prize at Cannes Film Festival. Burning evokes the sensations and colors that one would imagine are associated with Murakami’s literary work. From a smoky sunset with a girl dancing in front of it to literal barns burning in the Korean countryside, this is a movie that morphs and mutates as its mystery slowly reveals itself.
1 Drive My Car
Bitters End
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car became the first Japanese film nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. It had many other nominations too: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film. The movie was adapted from the short story of the same name, “Drive My Car,” which appeared in Murakami’s short story collection Men Without Women. A theater director (Hidetoshi Nishijima) copes with the death of his wife as he directs a new play in Hiroshima. The theater assigns him a chauffeur, an unassuming woman that doesn’t speak much. Drive My Car is one of the finest Murakami pieces to be brought to life.
