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 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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