Norwegian Wood as a book is strange, sure, but an exciting read when it comes to the pacing and the odd nature of the dynamic between the three major characters and their internal struggles/emotions. In my opinion, this is why the movie adaptation is not as powerful for me. The scenes which best present those internal elements are either cut or altered. The first chapter of the book does such a good job of establishing how the story is going to feel and how Naoko and Watanabe are as people. And while it does make sense for the movie to instead start with Kizuki's relationship and death, those scenes felt protracted. Replacing the novel's opening with the high school backstory was a choice that, in my viewing, changed the mood of the story. Likewise, the first big Midori scene at her house just felt off. There was no fire, no declaration of death, the singing wasn't particularly bad. All the elements that added to the awkward romance were lost.
What the movie does a good job with is evocative elements of the book, like the university protests and Kizuki's death and the ending with the telephone call. It even added that scream into the ocean which was very emotional but definitely conveyed the opposite vibes of the book, where Watanabe described walking at the bottom of the ocean. I guess that makes sense given the media. It is a difficult job translating a book that is like half internal monologuing into a coherent visual narrative. It is just a shame that some of the best parts of the book for me had to be altered for the narrative to happen.
Also doesn't help when you realize Murakami's famously bad sex scenes had to be filmed by and with real people. It is one thing to read about Naoko crying while they had sex on her 20th birthday but watching that in real time was not fun.
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