There’s hardly anyone nowadays who hasn’t come across Haruki Murakami’s work. Even if you haven’t read his surreal stories, you must have at least heard of him.
Murakami’s popularity has led to various adaptations of his stories, the recent one being the French animated film, ‘Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman.’ The movie was presented at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June and is now planning to make its theatrical debut.
Gebeka Films has released a trailer for the ‘Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman’ film, which confirms its March 22, 2023 premiere in France. Its French title is ‘Saules aveugles, femme endormie.’
The film’s title is inspired by Murakami’s compilation book and short story of the same name, which will be featured in the movie.
Besides this, the film will adapt two more stories from ‘Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman,’ one from ‘The Elephant Vanishes’ and two from ‘After the Quake.’
Following is the list of titles featured in the movie:
Murakami’s stories are known to be surreal and deal with realism in a unique way.
For instance, in ‘Super-Frog Saves Tokyo,’ the protagonist Katagiri is approached by a giant frog who informs him about an earthquake. Instead of being bewildered about it, Katagiri just accepts the situation as reality and goes to help the frog.
Similarly, in ‘Dabchick,’ a man goes for a job interview and demands to meet the boss after some confusion. The boss turns out to be a palm-sized dabchick who can talk.
These are just some of the various works of Murakami’s strange reality that resonate with readers. No wonder he’s one of the best authors of this time because no one can easily put such complex thoughts on paper.
Coming to the animation part, it’s definitely something different from an anime. With Pierre Földes directing the film, you can’t expect anything less than a great experience.
The movie received a great response at the Annecy Film Festival, and I’m sure it will be a success globally too. I hope we get the worldwide premiere dates next.
About Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is a French animated film directed by Pierre Földes and distributed by Gebeka Films. It was screened at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in June and will make its French theatrical debut in March 2023.
The movie adapts six of Haruki Murakami’s stories taken from his short story collections, ‘Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman,’ ‘After the Quake,’ and ‘The Elephant Vanishes.’
Source: Gebeka Films
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