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Today I watched Jun Ichikawa's adaptation of Haruki Murakami's Tony Takitani and it got me thinking about the ways in which the movie portrayed its characters and Tony's story.
Haruki Murakami's short story entitled Tony Takitani was first published in the New York Times magazine in 2002.[1] In 2004, it was turned into a film while maintaining its text-like aspect through the narrative voice, the mingling of direct and indirect speech between the narrator and the characters as well as various perspectives through camera movements and positions. The film tells the story of Tony Takitani in particular, however, it also focuses on Tony's origins, his father's story and how the other characters of the story enter into Tony's life. While the title of the short story and of the move refers to Tony, the insistence on the historical and family context which precedes and influences Tony's life suggests that one's life story is not merely one's own, but is interlinked with stories of those surrounding the given character. The story portrays Japan's post-war generation and its struggles to redefine itself in a gradually westernised society and lifestyle. The name of the main character shows the power struggle and the conflict that arises when Western and Japanese traditions meet: Tony is written in Katakana, indicating its foreign and 'unnatural' origin, while Takidani is composed of the characters for waterfall and valley in Kanji [2], the traditional Chinese characters in Japanese with meanings linked to nature.
The film uses camera movements and positions to indicate the textual character of the story. Horizontal camera movements show the passage of time and introduce the space in which the action takes place. Each horizontal camera movement can be equalled to a new chapter or paragraph in the text, and the movement also imitates the turning of pages in a book. Vertical movements, on the other hand, show the protagonist's position in his direct environment. The artist's living space is positioned above the rest of the city and the very low line of horizon indicates that the artist is above the rest of his environment. New characters – the two unnamed Kanojos – are introduced to the story by their ascension to the artist's house through stairs, which are suggested to be steep, high and tedious to mount. The artist's house overlooks the city and this elevated position isolates him from the « ordinary » citizens, suggesting that his artistic talent causes him to be isolated and unapproachable by others. For Tony's portrayal, the low position of the camera enables the sky to fill the biggest part of the composition : Tony's upper body and head are surrounded by the vast blue sky which becomes a recurring pattern through Tony Takitani. On one occasion, Tony is seen eating on a Western style chair, with his legs crossed and not touching the floor. His position can suggest two things : firstly, the mingling of Western and traditional Japanese lifestyle and how the post-war generation negotiates between the old and the new ways ; secondly, the traditional manners of royalties – who are considered god-like – who should not touch the ground with their feet as they are in a superior position. Tony's wife, on the othe hand, is characterised through shots where only her feet is visible, walking in the street, while shopping and sporting different models of designer shoes. Her shoes represent her obsession with shopping and her perpetual quest for beautiful clothes.
The importance of clothes and the obsession with shopping shows the condition of housewives in Japan in the post-war era. The access to Western products and a relative financial ease enables housewives to consume excessively. This story portrays the unnamed wife feeling empty and unfulfilled by her housewife duties only. Shopping for clothes is a way of independence and liberation for her. While she was a working woman, she could decide to spend her income on clothes, when she becomes a full-time housewife, Tony imposes restrictions on her shopping « obsession ». Returning clothes to the shop gives her momentary satisfaction, however, her desire to possess beautiful clothes is the cause of the accident which will take her life. The substitute kanojo is moved to tears by the beauty of the clothes, which stands in opposition to the mechanical beauty which Tony recreates in his art. The wife's presence is indicated by wind throughout the story : the wind blows her hair even in closed spaces, such as in the bar, and after her death, her clothes seem to be moving in the wind inside the closed wardrobe room.
The presence of music is a recurrent theme in Haruki Murakami's novels. Here the father, a jazz musician represents the escape through music within the context of the Second World War. Between father and son, music is a way of communication for things which words fail to express: the son detects the change in the father's music, foreshadowing the death of the father later on in the story. Music enables the father to escape Japan and the horrors of the war, however, upon his return he is left completely alone. His loneliness represents that of many people who were forced to migrate in that period and the post-war feeling of general and universal emptiness and purposelessness. Empty spaces in the story portray the characters' inner state, the emptied wardrobe room being the most striking symbol of emptiness in Tony's home. Once filled with the wife's clothes to fill the emptiness she experienced, it is emptied and filled again with the remaining belongings of Tony's father. Subsequently, the room is emptied again, symbolising Tony's losses throughout his life. The story is infused with loneliness, and each character suffers from the feeling of isolation. Tony is seen drawing or eating alone on several occasions and in various stages of his life, which suggests that for him being alone is a natural state, while loneliness is caused by a feeling of lacking, such as after the death of his mother, and later his wife and finally his father.
1Haruki Murakami, 'Tony Takitani', New York Times, 2002, p.74.
2'滝 and '谷' in Jisho <https://jisho.org/word/51868e70d5dda7b2c600a931> [accessed on 16th October 2018].