Radiohead guitarist and avant garde classical composer Jonny Greenwood is lending his magical music to the cinema in Tran Anh Hung’s forthcoming film Norwegian Wood.

The film, based on the book by Haruki Murakami, is a coming-of-age story told in flashback, spurred by the sitar strings of The Beatles’ title song. As we reported last year, the film stars Rinko Kikuchi and Kenichi Matsuyama. Like Greenwood’s score for Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, this piece will also be based on a previously existing work, a composition called Dogwood which the musician recently wrote for the BBC Concert Orchestra. Greenwood debuted the score last month at Maida Vale Studios, but for those of us who couldn’t make it, tune in to BBC Radio 3 on Friday, March 19th at 2 PM to hear the score for yourself. [Source The Playlist]

Norwegian Wood is slated for a December release in Japan, but it’s release in the US is uncertain for now. Tran’s critically acclaimed previous film noir I Come With The Rain starring Josh Hartnett, still doesn’t have US distribution so unless you plan on importing it, it’s going to be impossible to find. Hopefully, the entrancing sounds of Greenwood’s original score will push this new project into theaters here at home.

Side note, Greenwood’s first original score to the amazing documentary Bodysong (consisting of completely original music specific to the film) is a true marvel for any Radiohead fans and I would highly recommend checking it out as well.

Would you import Norwegian Wood if it wasn’t released in the US?