{"id":5009,"date":"2024-06-16T14:13:37","date_gmt":"2024-06-16T14:13:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/khabarok.com\/entertainment\/noted-japanese-author-haruki-murakami-is-happy-with-first-animated-adaptation-of-his-short-stories\/"},"modified":"2024-06-16T14:13:37","modified_gmt":"2024-06-16T14:13:37","slug":"noted-japanese-author-haruki-murakami-is-happy-with-first-animated-adaptation-of-his-short-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/khabarok.com\/?p=5009","title":{"rendered":"Noted Japanese author Haruki Murakami is happy with first animated adaptation of his short stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n
\"Novelist<\/picture><\/div>\n

\nNovelist Haruki Murakami and film director Pierre Foldes shake hands at the end of a talk session after a screening of \u2018Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman,\u2019 an animated film adapted from the Japanese author\u2019s short stories, in Tokyo, June 15, 2024.
\n| Photo Credit: AP\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Renowned Japanese author Haruki Murakami expressed joy with how several of his short stories were adapted in American director Pierre F\u00f6ldes\u2019 animated film Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman<\/i>, adding he wanted to see future interpretations of his work with filmmakers\u2019 own spin.<\/p>\n

The Japanese language version of the 2022 film will be released for the first time in Japan on July 26. It is the first animated adaptation of Murakami\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

After screening the film Saturday at his alma mater Waseda University in Tokyo, Murakami \u2014 joining F\u00f6ldes at a talk session \u2014 admitted that while he wasn\u2019t a fan of animated films, he watched it twice.<\/p>\n

The filmmaker was inspired by six of Murakami\u2019s short stories: \u201cSuper-Frog Saves Tokyo\u201d and \u201cU.F.O. in Kushiro\u201d\u2014 from \u201cAfter the Quake,\u201d<\/i> collection, written after the fatal 1995 Kobe earthquake \u2014 and \u201dBirthday Girl,\u201d \u201cDabchick,\u201d \u201cThe Windup Bird and Tuesday\u2019s Women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman<\/i> is set in Tokyo in the aftermath of the March 2011 earthquake, tsunami and the Fukushima meltdowns. It focuses on three main characters \u2014 Katagiri, a diligent but lonely and confidence-lacking banker who teams up with a giant talking frog to save Tokyo from an imminent second quake, his unenthusiastic younger colleague and his wife Kyoko, who \u2014 depressed and glued to earthquake news on TV \u2014 leaves him. Through recollections and dreams, the three eventually find peace and the ability to start anew.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Novelist<\/div>\n

\nNovelist Haruki Murakami and film director Pierre Foldes pose for a photo at the end of a talk session after a screening of \u201cBlind Willow, Sleeping Woman,\u201d an animated film adapted from the Japanese author\u2019s short stories, in Tokyo, June 15, 2024.
\n| Photo Credit:
\nMARI YAMAGUCHI\n<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Murakami praised the animated version of the intelligent green Frog, voiced by F\u00f6ldes, saying it matched how he imagined the character to be.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I would like to see is not a mere film version of what I wrote, but something added to it and becoming something new,\u201d Murakami said during the talk.<\/p>\n

F\u00f6ldes said his approach \u201cis to be faithful to my interpretation of things of my inspiration,\u201d which obviously worked for Murakami.<\/p>\n

The American filmmaker said he didn\u2019t have a definitive plan when he picked six stories that \u201cI just love.\u201d But things started to build \u201clike different crops growing together,\u201d he told Murakami. \u201cLittle by little all these links appeared and this is how I combined all your stories into one story with other stories inside.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The popular writer\u2019s works previously inspired several award-winning works, including Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi\u2019s 2021 Drive My Car<\/i> and South Korean director Lee Chang-dong\u2019s 2018 thriller Burning<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n

Murakami cited both films and F\u00f6ldes\u2019 animation as examples that successfully achieved his and the directors\u2019 goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaking a film based on short stories would require directors creativity to add own materials, which tends to help the creation of an interesting product,\u201d he said, noting that adapting a film from a full-length novel could require the opposite to make it in a two-hour production.<\/p>\n

Murakami also said his \u201cUnderground,\u201d his non-fiction long-form investigative work which is based on interviews with people affected by the 1995 terrorist poisonous gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, would make a fascinating film.<\/p>\n

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman<\/i> received a nomination for best-animated film at the 2024 Lumieres Awards.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Novelist Haruki Murakami and film director Pierre Foldes shake hands at the end of a talk session after a screening of \u2018Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman,\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[180],"tags":[9305,9304,2885,9294,9303,9301,9290,9292,9291,9293,9300,9302,9299,9297,9298,5440,9295,9296,4415],"class_list":["post-5009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-adaptation","tag-animated","tag-author","tag-blind-willow","tag-happy","tag-haruki","tag-haruki-murakami","tag-haruki-murakami-film-adaptations","tag-haruki-murakami-movie-adaptations","tag-haruki-murakami-new-book","tag-japanese","tag-murakami","tag-noted","tag-pierre-foldes","tag-pierre-foldes-blind-willow","tag-short","tag-sleeping-woman","tag-sleeping-woman-murakami","tag-stories"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t