Filming "Genji Monogatari (The Tale of Genji)," Murasaki Shikibu's epic 1,000-year-old tale of love and intrigue among Heian Period (794-1185) nobles, would seem to be an impossible task, like putting the Bible on the screen. (The 1966 John Huston film of that title covers only part of the book of Genesis.) "Genji" has hundreds of characters and nothing resembling a plot, while the language, though considered the summit of Japanese literary achievement, is all but impenetrable for modern readers. (Most Japanese read "Genji" in a modern-language translation.)
Films have been made from it, however, including Kozaburo Yoshimura's 1951 and Kon Ichikawa's 1966 versions. The latest, "Genji Monogatari: Sennen no Nazo (Tale of Genji — A Thousand Year Enigma)," directed by TV veteran Yasuo Tsuruhashi, weaves the story of the title character — the "shining prince" of a fictional Heian court — into that of his creator, Murasaki (Miki Nakatani), a lady-in-waiting to a high court official.
Tsuruhashi and scriptwriter Izumi Kawasaki manage the resulting back-and-forth between the two stories smoothly enough. At the same time, the framing story, with Murasaki reading her work of genius to an enthralled audience, makes Genji's tale feel less lived than literary. Also, the language that reads so exquisitely on the page sounds rather flowery and stiff on the screen (especially in the cringe-worthy English subtitles being shown to foreign media).