Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

Name: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Genre: Sci-Fi, Drama, Animation
Released: April 14, 2023
Duration: 110 min
Rating: 69
Cast: Amaury de Crayencour, Arnaud Maillard, Bruno Paviot, Damien Zanoly, Féodor Atkine

2023

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Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews

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Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (US Trailer 1)

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Movie Details & Credits

Zeitgeist Films | Release Date: April 14, 2023 | Not Rated

Starring: Amaury de Crayencour, Arnaud Maillard, Bruno Paviot, Damien Zanoly, Féodor Atkine, Jesse Noah Gruman, John Vamvas, Julien Crampon, Katharine King So, Laurent Stocker, Mathilde Auneveux, Michael Czyz, Nadia Verrucci, Pierre Földes, Shoshana Wilder, Théophile Baquet, Zag Dorison

Summary: Tokyo, a few days after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Kyoko suddenly leaves her husband after spending five days in a row glued to unfolding earthquake footage on TV. Her helpless husband Komura takes a week’s leave from work and heads north to deliver a box and its unknown contents to two young women. His colleague Katagiri, a simpleTokyo, a few days after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Kyoko suddenly leaves her husband after spending five days in a row glued to unfolding earthquake footage on TV. Her helpless husband Komura takes a week’s leave from work and heads north to deliver a box and its unknown contents to two young women. His colleague Katagiri, a simple debt collector by profession and an awkward loner in life, returns home one evening to find a two-metre-tall frog asking for his help to save Tokyo from an imminent earthquake. Through memories, dreams and fantasies, Kyoko, Komura and Katagiri, influenced by their visions of earthquakes—which are manifested as evil willow trees, giant earthworms, secret vows, mysterious boxes and a dark, endless corridor—attempt to rediscover their true selves.… Expand

Director: Pierre Földes

Genre(s): Sci-Fi, Drama, Animation

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 110 min

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Critic Reviews

Carlos Aguilar

Apr 15, 2023

Porous enough in their philosophical intent though as not to impose a strict meaning, and yet sufficiently potent to make us reassess our priorities, the array of interpersonal conflicts floating in the idiosyncratic “Blind Willow” feel like elegantly animated lucid dreams full of poetic imagery: far from realistic but viscerally truthful. Read full review

IndieWire Christian Zilko

Apr 12, 2023

Földes’ movie succeeds as both a tribute to a living legend and a reminder that nothing is ever quite as unfilmable as it seems. Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is far from the definitive Murakami movie. But for now, it’s one of the best ones we’ve got. Read full review

Natalia Keogan

Apr 14, 2023

By embarking on a truly unique creative path and embracing the facets of Murakami’s work that seemed unfilmable, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is an elegant tribute to a literary powerhouse whose signature brand of fantasy deserves to be embraced across artistic forms. Read full review

Richard Whittaker

May 30, 2023

Földes manages to balance the potentially dissonant tones of the diverse source material and create something akin to a story, one with diversions created as side characters relate elements of some of the smaller chapters within the books as anecdotes and memories. Read full review

Polygon Chris Plante

Apr 28, 2023

This isn’t a Murakami movie; it’s the Murakami movie. Read full review

David Jenkins

Mar 31, 2023

The film does well to capture the probing literary spirit of Murakami, even if it doesn’t quite manage to channel the intense emotional aspect of its work, instead coming across as dryly ironic and detached. Read full review

David Robb

Apr 10, 2023

Some pleasingly odd visuals and a sustained off-kilter mood will likely please many animation fans who haven’t had any exposure to the source material, but Pierre Foldes’s film ultimately fails to create any clear identity of its own. Read full review

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User Reviews

TomMonday

Apr 17, 2023

A boring, ponderous piece of beauty that makes you wish you were watching something else. Murakami fans and animation buffs will enjoy the slight pleasures here: often gorgeous art and atmospheric situations colliding in a haze of bizarre visuals. But nothing links up – the viewer has toA boring, ponderous piece of beauty that makes you wish you were watching something else. Murakami fans and animation buffs will enjoy the slight pleasures here: often gorgeous art and atmospheric situations colliding in a haze of bizarre visuals. But nothing links up – the viewer has to work far too hard to piece together the “narrative”, which has no real pay-off.… Expand

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