Journal 14 - In A Grove, Text v Film

In a Grove, the film and the book, both were similar and different to each other. When I started to watch the film, I was disappointed because I was expecting colors and all fancy props from reading the book. Well, honestly, I should have expected that because it was a fairly old film. I also didn't expect it to be as dramatic or as crazy as it is. The book was awesome, keeping its mysterious and sad tone throughout the story. The movie, not so much. A lot of the things were the same story-wise. It was following the patterns of In a Grove as well as the main points such as the main characters. What was strange was that some of the minor characters such as the woman's mother were cut out of the movie. They are also different in telling the "truth" of the story. The book was mysterious and sort of a cliffhanger while the movie was not. It combined Rashōmon and I did not expect it. The woman in the movie looked more creepy than sexy and this is kind of a problem for all of us as we reacted more to the woman's eyebrows than the story itself. The film director also put in a woman, a medium in which the dead samurai spoke from and it was more dramatic than needed. Akira Kurosawa decided to take out the minor characters out from the film and put in the truth because it was an old movie meaning that they might not have enough actors or that the people who watch it might be confused if it ended with the samurai. This might not be the ideal purpose of the films during this time period. Honestly, I liked the book better because you can imagine it freely and also because I don't like too much drama or the woman's eyebrows.