Review: Catching Fire

I'd forgotten how good this story is. And I think it's the mark of a good adaptation when the movie reminds you of how much you love a story and makes you want to go back and read the book over again. Catching Fire was pretty much everything I wanted it to be - although, that said, it's been a nice long year-and-a-half since I read the book, so I was in a perfect place to enjoy the movie without noticing any glaring omissions or glosses. I'll reserve judgement on those details until I re-read and re-watch. But this was a truly enjoyable film, well-paced, well-acted, well-directed, well-designed.

Middle movies are the best - this time around, we didn't need to be introduced to the characters or the world. There's no awkward exposition in this movie. A few elegant shots remind us of what's come before. One of the best is when, at the very beginning, Katniss aims to shoot a wild turkey in the woods back in District 12 and at the last moment sees herself shooting Marvel, the tribute she killed in the first games, instead. That one image was such a good reminder, early in the film, that there's no way Katniss (or we) can forget what happened in the previous movie. She and Peeta and all the other victors we meet later in the movie are seriously damaged and changed by what they did in the arena.

Portraying that psychological damage is one of the best, most unique things about Collins' books. Unlike most stories about heroes and heroines who endure incredible physical violence, the Hunger Games trilogy honestly shows how much that violence hurts people, physically and psychologically. When they're back in the arena, the characters also spend more of their time running in terror or lying on the ground, incapacitated by pain, than they do fighting or acting brave. I really appreciated that the movie lets its action heroes and heroines remain human even as they achieve superhuman things.

 

The actors really stepped up to the task of embodying both human fragility and human strength. I felt I knew what was going through Katniss's head at all times, which is important for an adaptation of a book that was told in the first person. And although there never seems to be enough time in movies for just watching the characters grow, Catching Fire did show a lot of character development. Peeta in particular undergoes a wonderful transformation in this part of the story (which makes part three even more heartbreaking). His strengths come to match Katniss's, although the two don't overlap. As I watched them struggle differently but bravely with the pressures and horrors of the victory tour and the arena, I was totally convinced that, together, they could actually change the society that was oppressing them.

 

Meanwhile, Gale starts to look worse and worse in comparison, as he consistently ignores everything Katniss is going through and just keeps asking her whether she's in love with him yet. He becomes, in some ways, the same as the spectators who so eagerly lap up Katniss and Peeta's staged romance. Peeta, on the other hand, accepts Katniss's feelings and gets on with the more important stuff, like helping her save her family or comforting her when she has nightmares about the arena. When Gale sees Katniss recoil in shock after her vision of shooting Marvel, by contrast, he has no idea what to do.

All of this points not only to how much better Peeta is than Gale, but also how much better Suzanne Collins is than most authors who focus on their heroines' love lives over everything else. One of these boys understands that Katniss is more than a sex object, and he's obviously the one she should ally herself with if she wants to save the world and wants to have a chance at happiness doing that. Collins also exposes how the society objectifies Katniss. The best way to keep her from starting a rebellion, as Plutarch Heavensbee suggests to President Snow, is to paint her as a classic feminine stereotype, more obsessed with her wedding dress than concerned about politics. That's why Cinna's transformation/destruction of that dress is such a good image. On the one hand, he literally burns up the dress to show that she's more than the barbie doll that the Capitol wants her to be. On the other hand, when she spreads her wings as the Mockingjay, she's still expressing her identity through a dress, a foreshadowing of the fact that she'll become as much a puppet of District 13's rebellion as she was of the Capitol.

This is also why I loved Joanna's undressing-in-the-elevator scene. She recognizes exactly what those fancy clothes mean, and she isn't having any of it. She'd rather go naked than conform to anyone's idea of who she is. It’s also a priceless scene, which the actors play for comedy very successfully. But, as is appropriate for the story, even this comedic moment is overlaid with the themes of the film. The Hunger Games trilogy is a critique of those who thoughtlessly create and consume entertainment, and it forces its own audience to really think about what they’re watching and to decide for themselves whether it’s entertainment or something else.

I loved all the new characters, Joanna included. The casting was right on the nail for everyone, and the movie succeeded in presenting clear, though necessarily brief, portraits of each of them. Haymitch also acquires a lot more depth in this movie simply by being presented alongside his friends, the other victors. One details I did miss from the books was the scene where Katniss watches the video of the games from the year Haymitch won. But I admire the directors for knowing when to cut scenes like that and achieving a coherent and lean movie in the end.

In addition to being well directed and acted, the movie was beautifully designed. The arena looked pretty spectacular, especially in the aerial shots. And once again, the movie fleshed out a more vivid, tangible world than the books presented (thin physical description and world-building is one of the main flaws of the books, in my opinion). I look forward to seeing how the filmmakers show us District 13. Only a year to wait, but the brilliant series of short scenes and spare shots at the end of the movie definitely whetted my appetite and are making that year seem very long indeed.

November Things

This post is both late and brief. It's finals week, what can I say?

Food:

I discovered an amazing snack the other day when I was craving something to carry me through a long study session - I'm not sure exactly what they're called, but they can mostly be summed up as crunchy seaweed peanut deliciousnesses. They're basically peanuts encased in a shell of seaweed-flavored crunch. Not only is the texture perfection and the taste wonderfully salty and savory, but they also come in a variety of patterns and colors, like marbles, depending on the type of seaweed, I suppose. I may need to buy myself a package for the plane flight home next week and then subtly suggest to the stewardesses that they hand these things out instead of bad cheesy-tomato snacks.

Entertainment:

What I miss most about living in a warmer climate is getting outside, whether to sunbathe or take a hike. It's just not that appealing when it's so cold and dark out. So I've had to force myself to at least go outside on my way to another indoor space by, for example, going into town to look at the shops and their holiday decorations or taking myself to the movies. I saw a couple of really good films over the last few weeks: Amour, The Sapphires, and Silver Linings Playbook. Didn't have time to review them all, but I do recommend them (although you should only go see Amour if you like artsy, difficult films and don't mind having a messy feeling of happy and sad as you walk out of the movie theater). There are a few other films I wanted to see in theaters, but this week has been more devoted to watching movies at home because I needed to buckle down to work. Still, thank goodness movie theaters are staying afloat and open, because they are such a good antidote to winter cabin fever.

Music:

The Civil Wars. Ever since The Hunger Games came out, I've been hankering for more music like the song Safe and Sound and failing to find any similar songs by Taylor Swift. Eventually, I copped to the fact that I should try searching the music of The Civil Wars, who are featured in the song. Perfect. If you like The Avett Brothers or any kind of chill folksy music, check out their YouTube channel. They're really good.

Drawings: Peter Parker & Gwen Stacy + Katniss Everdeen

One of the few books I managed to squeeze into my suitcase for this trip is a sketch book. I find that drawing brings me a lot of calm and focus, and it's a nice way to spend time with whatever images are swirling through my head, something that's especially important while traveling and exploring, I think. Not that the images are always of what I'm seeing around me. Sometimes I sit down to sketch a landscape in front of me, as a way of enjoying it more and noticing more of its details. But sometimes I like to revisit something more familiar.

So today I'm sharing a couple of drawings I did over the last two days. The first, which I actually drew second, is a little sketch I did the day after finally seeing The Amazing Spider-Man, which was wonderful. I'm not very good at likenesses, and this was done from memory, because I didn't have a picture of either actor handy, but I had fun doing it.

I discovered while doing this drawing that working on sketches in a coffee shop is a great idea. First, because you can surreptitiously peer at people to see how faces look in profile and where the eye brow actually hits the line of the brow. Second, because, especially if you sit next to a small child, you get automatic encouragement from the fact that they are constantly trying to see what you're drawing. It makes you feel like you're preparing something super-secret or super-awesome.

The other drawing was initially just going to be a random sketch, but it turned into a portrait of Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss from The Hunger Games. I did have to look up the mockingjay pin to see how it was shaped.

Again, I'm not sure it looks like her. But it was fun to do, especially the braid.

May Things

This post is inspired by italktosnakes's new video Things I'm Into: May! which you should all check out. Anyway, the idea is to recap a month, not just with the books one's read or things one's done, but all the stuff that's worth sharing and recording. I think it's a nice idea, anyway.


Summer fruit: I love love love summer because of the strawberries and blueberries and blackberries and peaches and nectarines and cherries and apricots, etc. etc. And this morning I just discovered a really spiffy way to eat fresh peaches that I wanted to share:

• Cut your peach in half and take out the pit. 
• Spread fromage blanc on the cut side generously. 
• Drizzle honey over the fromage blanc. 
• Shake a light dusting of cinnamon on top of the fromage blanc as well. 

It's a little messy, but oh so good. I'd include a picture except that I just ate the last bite....


YA literature: This is sort of a thing I've been rediscovering. I suppose I read it when I was actually a "young adult" (although frankly that term seems to apply to me more at age 22 than at age 15 or whatever), but I also read a lot of regular books, by which I mean adult books, I guess, although I'm not sure I subscribe to that differentiation, given the fact that I enjoyed said books before I became a fully-fledged adult. But after four years of college, some easy reading feels great - I mean easy in the sense of a story that just sucks you along with it, as opposed to a book that makes you stop and deconstruct sentences.

So far, I've finished the Hunger Games trilogy and The Fault in Our Stars, both of which came very highly recommended and still managed to exceed my expectations. I wouldn't rank either of them as in any way lesser than other books, nor are they written carelessly, or with regard only for story, not style. It's just that they don't beat you up (except maybe emotionally) while you're reading them. They don't judge you for wanting to turn the pages very quickly and find out what happens next before you sit back and think about metaphors.

In short, they feel friendly. I enjoy intellectual sparring as much as the next person, but sometimes it's just nice to sit down with someone who will tell you a story.


I suppose that's it for now. Let me know in the comments if there's anything you've discovered in the last month that you simply must share.

Happy June!

Review: The Hunger Games Movie

I don't have time to write a long review, but I saw The Hunger Games Friday night and wanted to share a few thoughts and a few fangirl squees.

Overall impression: I was not disappointed. Granted, I saw the trailer before I started reading the books, so of course the characters all conformed to my expectations perfectly - but they also surpassed them. I was especially impressed by Jennifer Lawrence, although I expected no less after seeing Winter's Bone. Aside from all the Katniss's conflicting affections and incredible strength and snarky personality, it's damn hard to act out all the physical pain and grit without rolling your eyes around in your head (ahem...Elijah Wood....ahem), but she nailed it. I really believed her exhaustion and desperation with the burn on her leg and it had the impact it should in a movie that's all about people fighting for their lives and trying to preserve their physical bodies as well as their self-worth and individuality.

Design: Again, good stuff. I did think the opening sequence in District 12 was a little over-the-top on the depression-era old people faces, but I liked the overall atmosphere, especially the images of all the kids dressed up in their best, hair slicked back, looking so innocent in a way. And I loved how crazy they went with the Capitol fashions. And how much screen time they gave to the crowds.

Action movie v. social commentary: Again, glad they spent so much time on the crowds, the media hype, the game makers, and the political machinations behind the scenes. I thought that was all a great way to put us in Katniss's mindset - that she's always being watched, being judged, being controlled. And it made the movie complementary to the book because it didn't just cut things, it added things, too - which is always good. The downside was that the more time they spent on that, the less time they spent on other important things.
Like the ending. I was really disappointed with the entire ending sequence, starting with the mutts all the way to the final shot. The end of the book was so great, the way it pushed you to the limit with the finale of the games, and then placed you in a kind of horrible tension limbo when Katniss is recovering, and then plunged you into another, even bigger danger, and also complicated the Katniss-Peeta relationship beautifully at the last moment. The movie did none of that. In fact, overall, I thought the first half was way better than the second half. It just felt like they ran out of steam and out of time.

Favorite moments: The countdown and the moments just before Katniss enters the arena; the relationship between Rue and Katniss; when Peeta made Katniss smile with his joke about the bow; when he admitted to having beat himself up over not going out to her in the rain; when he touched her braid at the end; when Katniss made snarky comments to Cato and the gang from her tree; when Seneca found the berries; when Haymitch was rude to Effie; when Katniss wouldn't answer Peeta's questions ('why are you doing this for me?') because she doesn't know the answers; when she saw herself on fire on the screens at the tribute parade....so many more.

It just felt great to sink into something wholeheartedly and passionately in a way that sometimes only nerdy fandom can let you do. I really wanted to enjoy the hell out of this movie and I did, and I laughed and cried (and may have cut off circulation in my friend's hand during the tracker jacker scene), and it felt good. And I'm thankful that people aren't afraid to write books and make movies based on crazy ideas and make them into really great stories.

Review: The Hunger Games, Book 1

I haven't had so much trouble keeping my hands off a book since Harry Potter. Now, I don't pretend that Collins has done anything on the same scale as Rowling. In fact, for the first time in my life, I'm actually pretty glad that they're making a movie of a book I like. Usually, it feels like such a cop-out (why not just make up your own story and film it?) or too much of a risk (what if they get it all wrong?). But my main qualm with Collins is that she fails to flesh out her fictional world enough. For example, if I hadn't already seen the movie trailer, I'm not sure how I would have imagined the dress Katniss wears to the reapings, which is simply described as a blue dress, but which look so perfectly worn down and ill-fitting in the trailer.


As I read, I had no trouble following Katniss through the spaces and the crowds of strange people she encounters, but I felt often like I was supplying some prototypical sci-fi/fantasy interiors to fill out the minimal description on the page. All of which is to say that I'm really excited for the movie, because I'm hoping it will take what Collins wrote and run with it and put in all the little odd details that are so fun to read in the futuristic, fantasy, and sci-fi genres.

As I said, though, that was really my only quibble with the book. I didn't come in expecting great writing, but the style was clean and effective throughout. Most impressively, it gripped me right from the start and hasn't let go since, even though I've finished the book and set it aside to be returned to the library. As a writer, I'm not very skilled at manipulating plot, so I hugely admire any writer who can so perfectly pace a story, giving us a rest or some reflection for a few pages and then cutting it off at exactly the right moment with a new revelation or imperative action.

Which brings me to my final thought of the day. Beyond telling a good story, I think Collins did an excellent job of including subtle social commentary through the book - in such a perfect way for a YA novel, not hitting you over the head, not spewing anger and frustration, just carefully setting out the truth the way she sees it. The way she implicates us, the readers, in the Games is just great. From the start, you think you're totally allied with a rebel, totally opposed to the Capitol and its abusive governance. But as soon as the Games begin, we're hooked, just like all the millions of people watching them on screens throughout Panem. We cannot escape the fact that we are reading an exciting and entertaining book and that we are, to some extent, thrilled by the dangers these kids are undergoing for the amusement and benefit of the people of the Capitol. Whatever you choose to see the Games stand for, or even if you choose not to apply parallels to our world, you can't quite condemn them completely, because you are still reading about them, not, I would guess, in total disgust, but more in a complex mix of horror and fascination, of sadness and thrill.

All of which make this book a little more than a well-told adventure. I loved that complexity in the moral. I loved Katniss as a heroine and am absolutely rooting for Peeta (but please don't spoil the outcome of the romance for me!). I loved the feeling of being transported away on a bullet train into another world every time I opened the book. And I'm currently trying desperately to find a copy of Book 2 that hasn't been checked out, lost, put on hold, or relegated to that most frustrating category, "Unavailable."

Finally, I HAVE ONLY READ BOOK 1 PLEASE DO NOT SPOIL THE NEXT BOOK FOR ME. PLEASE.