Movie animates Murakami's portraits of empty lives

'Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman' elevates celebrated author's genre fantasies

In "Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman," the magic of animation enables director Pierre Foldes to convey the surreal qualities of Haruki Murakami's fiction: A character known as Frog suddenly flattens his body into a paper-thin sheet to slide through a train carriage window, while other passengers are rendered transparent. (Pierre Foldes Defacto/Miyu)

ROLAND KELTS, Contributing writer

July 25, 2024 08:01 JST

TOKYO -- American writer Nathaniel Rich once claimed that Haruki Murakami, lauded internationally and regularly short-listed for the Nobel Prize in literature, actually writes "genre fiction," the commercial label for stories that repeat formulas, conventions, plots and sometimes whole casts of characters to satisfy reader expectations (think "Game of Thrones" or "Harry Potter"). Genre works are distinguished from the less predictable and less marketable aims of literary fiction -- and have a much better shot at the bestseller list.