In reworking NHK¡¯s four-part drama series based on a short story collection by Haruki Murakami, Tsuyoshi Inoue¡¯s feature ¡°After the Quake¡± tries too hard to thematically link its quartet of tales. It does, however, succeed in evoking the atmosphere of Murakami¡¯s world, which is at once familiar and strange, blurring the distinction between waking and dreaming life.
Inoue, a TV veteran who directed the hit 2013 NHK series ¡°Amachan,¡± and scriptwriter Takamasa Oe (¡°Drive My Car¡±) have creatively interpreted Murakami¡¯s work instead of literally adapting it ¡ª a temptation given the author¡¯s towering worldwide reputation.
This approach finds its most mind-bending expression in the phantasmagoric climax, which veers between absurdist comedy and nightmarish terror, the latter rooted in the darker reaches of the human psyche. A more proximate source of inspiration is the Great Hanshin Earthquake of Jan. 17, 1995, that caused 6,434 deaths.
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