Movie Rec & Thoughts: The Hunger Games
Saturday, March 31st, 2012 09:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
retsukoA roundabout lead-in to my thoughts on this movie: when I lived in Japan, I went to see "Boys Don't Cry" as part of the Kochi City Modern Art Museum's series that I mentally translated as "films that some people here might want to see but won't get a wide release because the material is too challenging to translate." Going in, I really didn't know what BDC was going to entail. I went with my foreign friends Scott and Maggie, and the three of us were the only foreigners in the theater. Well. That rape scene is one of the most uncomfortable experiences I've ever had at the movies. I wanted to crawl out of my skin, or turn off my ears during it--it was that awful. But the strangest thing was that no one else in that theater made a sound during that scene. I wanted someone else to cough, or fidget, or do something that would let me know that I wasn't alone in my discomfort, that another human being in the audience found the material on screen as morally repugnant and unsettling as I did. It was all I could do not to cry loudly--I think I may have sprained something internally from holding my emotions in.
Then the movie was over, and the staff played the trailer for next week's film: "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut." (That trailer wasn't a palate cleanser, per se, but it did break up the tension in my soul a bit.)
Anyway, this leads me to my thoughts on "The Hunger Games": I channeled about 10% of that uncomfortable from BDC, which I hadn't done in a movie theater in a long time. And, annoyingly enough, the audience here did almost the same damn thing. When Rue died... I wanted someone else in the theater to react as appalled as I was. And there were a few gasps around me, but overall, it was that awful, creeping silence again. Fortunately, this timeyebisu9 was with me, and I cut off his circulation instead of spraining my lungs. The whole sequence reminded me of a gorgeous production of "Madame Butterfly" I saw a few years ago at the San Diego Opera. I went in knowing the ending, yet when Cho-cho-san picked up that knife, I thought to myself, "But the music is so beautiful, and you are so young and beautiful, and maybe, just maybe, you won't make this decision?" And... then she did, and she died, and I shed a few tears for her. It's a disquieting sensation when a narrative goes the direction you expected it to, but hoped against hope wouldn't. Poor Rue has an expiration date on her forehead from the moment she first appears, but I almost hoped that.... I don't know. The spear would miss. Katniss would push her aside just in time. The audience would stand up and refuse to take this kind of bullshit. Instead, people around me whispered sadly, and reserved their gasps for the moment when Cato snaps the neck of the tribute who fails to stop Katniss from blowing up the food. The loudest reactions came, though, when we saw Gale's reaction to Katniss' blossoming relationship with Peeta. I suppose this is due to the fact that there were a lot of teenagers in the audience, but I wanted to yell, "C'mon, people, this is the least important part of the whole thing!"
Anyway. I liked this movie, but watching it was not easy, and the two laughs that I had were well-needed. It's a slog of despair in many places. District 12 looks like a Dust Bowl era photograph, the Capitol looks like Leni Riefenstahl was put in charge of a sci-fi film, and because I've read the books, I know the fate of every character before they even open their mouths. This isn't to say it was a huge downer. There is some amazing set dressing and make-up work, and dynamite acting jobs. I think Lenny Kravitz was amazing, and I really, really needed someone like Cinna at all the points he appeared. Sure, he was a bit more low-key than I expected, but he was so genuinely kind to Katniss, which the story really needed, lest it turn into "I need therapy after this, please." And I really loved Jennifer Lawrence. She may not have been how I envisioned Katniss, but her face and gestures... I got the distinct feeling she really wanted to do right with this role, and I liked her Katniss very much.
The camera work was a bit unsettling at first, but once I got used to the Steadicam shots, they started to make sense--Katniss' point of view before and during the games is always moving, never staying in one place. There are too many perils to watch out for, and the camera mimics that to exceedingly good effect. The hallucination shots were well-done, too, mixed with Katniss' memories of her father's death and her mother's subsequent catatonia. All in all, I felt like this whole film was shot with the idea that the Games would not be glamorized in any way, that the audience would be forced to experience what Katniss does, and this was a good idea that was well executed.
Side notes:
* The archery nerd in me really wants to try shooting some of those beautiful arrows Katniss had.
* Katniss' fire dresses were beautiful, especially the second one. I have to admit that if I could buy clothes that did something amazing like that, I probably would.
* The food in the Capitol did not look very appetizing. I kept expecting someone to say "Here, try these larks' tongues!" Although that would have been on the "very obvious" side of the equation.
* MAC cosmetics gets a special thank-you in the credits, and holy crap, do they ever deserve it! It was like their whole color palette was on display in the Capitol. I did love Cinna's gold eye liner, very striking and beautiful.
* Trailer Park: We saw the "Breaking Dawn, Part 2" trailer, and Jacob was loudly booed by someone down in the first row (ha ha); "The Avengers" is interesting me less and less with each passing promo (not enough ladies, too many mans); and "Titanic" in 3D will not be something I spend my money on.
Then the movie was over, and the staff played the trailer for next week's film: "South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut." (That trailer wasn't a palate cleanser, per se, but it did break up the tension in my soul a bit.)
Anyway, this leads me to my thoughts on "The Hunger Games": I channeled about 10% of that uncomfortable from BDC, which I hadn't done in a movie theater in a long time. And, annoyingly enough, the audience here did almost the same damn thing. When Rue died... I wanted someone else in the theater to react as appalled as I was. And there were a few gasps around me, but overall, it was that awful, creeping silence again. Fortunately, this time
yebisu9 was with me, and I cut off his circulation instead of spraining my lungs. The whole sequence reminded me of a gorgeous production of "Madame Butterfly" I saw a few years ago at the San Diego Opera. I went in knowing the ending, yet when Cho-cho-san picked up that knife, I thought to myself, "But the music is so beautiful, and you are so young and beautiful, and maybe, just maybe, you won't make this decision?" And... then she did, and she died, and I shed a few tears for her. It's a disquieting sensation when a narrative goes the direction you expected it to, but hoped against hope wouldn't. Poor Rue has an expiration date on her forehead from the moment she first appears, but I almost hoped that.... I don't know. The spear would miss. Katniss would push her aside just in time. The audience would stand up and refuse to take this kind of bullshit. Instead, people around me whispered sadly, and reserved their gasps for the moment when Cato snaps the neck of the tribute who fails to stop Katniss from blowing up the food. The loudest reactions came, though, when we saw Gale's reaction to Katniss' blossoming relationship with Peeta. I suppose this is due to the fact that there were a lot of teenagers in the audience, but I wanted to yell, "C'mon, people, this is the least important part of the whole thing!"Anyway. I liked this movie, but watching it was not easy, and the two laughs that I had were well-needed. It's a slog of despair in many places. District 12 looks like a Dust Bowl era photograph, the Capitol looks like Leni Riefenstahl was put in charge of a sci-fi film, and because I've read the books, I know the fate of every character before they even open their mouths. This isn't to say it was a huge downer. There is some amazing set dressing and make-up work, and dynamite acting jobs. I think Lenny Kravitz was amazing, and I really, really needed someone like Cinna at all the points he appeared. Sure, he was a bit more low-key than I expected, but he was so genuinely kind to Katniss, which the story really needed, lest it turn into "I need therapy after this, please." And I really loved Jennifer Lawrence. She may not have been how I envisioned Katniss, but her face and gestures... I got the distinct feeling she really wanted to do right with this role, and I liked her Katniss very much.
The camera work was a bit unsettling at first, but once I got used to the Steadicam shots, they started to make sense--Katniss' point of view before and during the games is always moving, never staying in one place. There are too many perils to watch out for, and the camera mimics that to exceedingly good effect. The hallucination shots were well-done, too, mixed with Katniss' memories of her father's death and her mother's subsequent catatonia. All in all, I felt like this whole film was shot with the idea that the Games would not be glamorized in any way, that the audience would be forced to experience what Katniss does, and this was a good idea that was well executed.
Side notes:
* The archery nerd in me really wants to try shooting some of those beautiful arrows Katniss had.
* Katniss' fire dresses were beautiful, especially the second one. I have to admit that if I could buy clothes that did something amazing like that, I probably would.
* The food in the Capitol did not look very appetizing. I kept expecting someone to say "Here, try these larks' tongues!" Although that would have been on the "very obvious" side of the equation.
* MAC cosmetics gets a special thank-you in the credits, and holy crap, do they ever deserve it! It was like their whole color palette was on display in the Capitol. I did love Cinna's gold eye liner, very striking and beautiful.
* Trailer Park: We saw the "Breaking Dawn, Part 2" trailer, and Jacob was loudly booed by someone down in the first row (ha ha); "The Avengers" is interesting me less and less with each passing promo (not enough ladies, too many mans); and "Titanic" in 3D will not be something I spend my money on.
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no subject
Date: 2012-04-01 02:02 am (UTC)Buttons change over time. I could watch violence in college that I absolutely cannot watch now, and kids in peril bother me more now than they used to, and I don't even have any kids. Humans just aren't static.