200 Movies, 1 Woman, 1 Blog

The Hunger Games, 2012, USA

This was a strong adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ book of the same name. The few changes that were made were done to make the book-to-film transition smoother. A few of the changes also positively impacted the flow of the story. I really enjoyed it.

Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is a young hunter from the impoverished District 12 in a post-apocalyptic United States now known as Panem. Her, and her best friend, Gale (Liam Hemsworth) hunt out of necessity and speak to escaping on the day of the reaping (when one male and one female are chosen to participate in The Hunger Games). Katniss refuses to try to escape, primarily out of concern for her sister, Primrose (Willow Shields). When Primrose’s name is chosen, Katniss volunteers to be the female tribute from District 12, alongside Peeta (Josh Hutcherson). As tributes, they must participate in The Hunger Games, an annual, televised, fight to the death. Only one tribute comes out alive, and Katniss and Peeta must fight for their lives in the arena.

The book and film are a bleak satire of modern society. We’re always connected, and Western society has a bizarre fascination with the lives of others (most notably, celebrities). When they’re at their worst, we seem to be most entertained. We are so disconnected from famous people that their lives become the source of our entertainment, and we often forget that we’re witnessing the successes or failures of a real person. This disconnect, and our obsession with fashion and beauty are criticized in a very dark manner.

Lawrence was the real highlight of the film. I love her past work, and she did an amazing job. Admittedly, Katniss was not fleshed out in the film as much as she was in the book, but, as the book is from her perspective, it’s far easier to get a handle on her personality. I love her character, because she’s an example of a powerful, independent female. It made more than the Twilight franchise did in their opening weekends, which truly does my heart good. Young people, especially young women, need powerful female characters as examples. The female protagonist in the Twilight series is driven by love and desire and constantly needs a man to save her. I can’t tell you how much I respect Katniss’ independence and ability to take care of herself.

I wasn’t quite expecting the film to be the sensation it is turning out to be. It makes me eager to see the sequels, which will surely be produced in short order. I do encourage you to read the book first, if at all possible, because I feel like it made the movie even more enjoyable. One other suggestion would be to read Battle Royale, which features a very similar (although, I’d argue, even darker) premise. I’ll write a blog post comparing the book (and film adaptation) one of these days, once I re-read the book and watch the film again.

I’ve been reading Maus: A Survivor’s Tale by Art Spiegelman over the last week and a half. I’m midway through the second book, which featured a scene where the author is struggling with the popularity of his graphic novel. He adamantly does not want his book adapted into a film.

It really made me think. The entire series is enormously thought provoking, rich and beautiful, but it made me think about something different. The two graphic novels would not work as a film. For those who are unfamiliar with the series, Maus is a memoir about Spiegelman’s father, Vladek. Vladek survived the Holocaust, and was deeply affected by what he went through. The memoir takes place in the “present” (late 1970s/1980s) and during World War II. Instead of drawing the characters as humans, Spiegelman draws them as animals. Each character is assigned an animal based on their ethnicity, and every animal is drawn exactly the same. This is to portray the ethnic stereotypes that exist and just how ridiculous they are.

The only way the story could work without losing its message is to retain the animal characters. But, if it were to be made into a film, I imagine people would be annoyed that many of the characters looked the same; with only their clothes to differentiate them. Plus, many would misinterpret what Spiegelman was trying to say by making the characters animals in the first place. It was an attack on stereotypes, but many wouldn’t see it that way.

Adapting graphic novels into animated films can be problematic. Persepolis was adapted into a relatively good French film. I read the graphic novel prior to seeing the film and really loved it. But the film itself was essentially the graphic novel on film, with voice acting and movement. It was quite faithful to the novel, but it didn’t ultimately add to the story. If I want to experience the story again, I’d be better off picking up the book.

I believe Maus would run into the same issue. That’s why I’m glad the author has refused to allow it to be adapted into a film. It has no place on film. I’m looking forward to finishing the last half of the second book, and I highly recommend reading the series. Telling a story about the Holocaust as a graphic novel is unbelievably creative and genius. Seeing drawings of the terrible events that occurred emphasizes further the horrors Vladek and his wife lived through. Spiegelman won the Pulitzer Prize for the series – and he did for good reason. Maus was a huge creative risk, and his story telling is unbelievable.

This summer I’ve been re-reading the Harry Potter series and watching the movies. This afternoon I watched Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The book is the weakest of the seven and the film is the weakest as well, but I was surprised when I found myself getting bored during the movie.

They’re so teenie weenie!

The film is about 2 hours and 40 minutes long. This makes it longer than the film adaptation of the longest book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which is about 2 hours and 18 minutes. Chamber of Secrets is 251 pages; Order of the Phoenix is 766 pages.

One of the major weaknesses of Chris Columbus’s two films in the franchise is that his adaptations feature no imagination. They are simply a page by page retelling of the book on screen. But there will always be scenes that need to be shortened for time, or removed because they simply aren’t interesting. Columbus didn’t do that. As a result, Chamber of Secrets was overlong, and not particularly interesting. A great number of scenes could have been trimmed by half, or even removed (did we need to see Ron get a howler?).

I do need to be fair and say that the overly faithful adaptation wasn’t the only problem with the film. The directing itself was poor, and the actors were still fairly weak. Most of them later developed into fine actors; this change began in the next movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

It’s not easy to adapt a book into a film – especially for a series as complex and beloved as Harry Potter. The later books are very long, and the screenwriter always needs to make a decision about what is necessary to the story and what isn’t. I haven’t always agreed with what has been cut, and several of my favourite scenes from the books ended up changed or removed entirely. At times, the films have left pretty vital plot pieces unexplained.

So, as a screenwriter, it’s very important to walk a fine line between being overly faithful and completely ignoring the source material. Another example of a film that was a bit too faithful was Persepolis. The film was based on a graphic novel that I loved, and features the same animation style. While I enjoyed the movie, I felt that it was simply the graphic novel – except with moving animation and voice acting. I didn’t get anything new out of the film.

Last night, I went to see Wicked at the Centennial Concert Hall with my friend, Danielle. I was so excited, because I’d been wanting to see the musical for years. And it (mostly) lived up to my expectations.

The musical is a re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz, from the perspective of the Wicked Witch of the West. She’s known as Elphaba (Anne Brummel), and she’s a social outcast because of her green skin. She is sent to college to take care of her younger sister, Nessarose (Michelle London). She meets Glinda (Natalie Daradich), who is rich, popular and spoiled. They dislike each at first other, but grow to become friends. Their friendship is tested when Elphaba begins to fight against The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’s (Don Amendiola) government.

The good

I was amazed when I got myself seated and looked at the stage. This was before the curtain actually rose. After the performance started, I continued to be impressed. The set design was magnificent. Different set pieces and backdrops moved with perfect timing. I’m not going to get into specifics of the stage because I don’t want to spoil anyone who may be going this week. It’s best to go in and see it for yourself. It’s probably the best set I’ve ever seen in a theatre.

The performances of the two female leads were outstanding. Both are gifted singers – especially Brummel. Daradich managed to make a rather annoying character sympathetic. Both of their voices were beautiful.

The bad

The weakest aspect of the musical were the songs itself. Often when I enjoy a musical, I’ll buy the soundtrack. And, while I really enjoyed this musical, I felt no desire to purchase the soundtrack. There were only two songs that really spoke to me, “Defying Gravity“, and “As Long as You’re Mine” (note: the songs contain slight spoilers, and I linked to the original Broadway soundtrack).

Many of the other songs were catchy, but I don’t know if I’d ever listen to them outside the context of the musical. Part of the issue could have been that the musical is a comedy and the songs often reflect that. But, then again, I have the lyrics to the songs in the Sweeney Todd film memorized, and many of them are about murder or baking people into pies, which are not exactly topics one would normally sing along to.

A film adaptation?

A film adaptation of the musical is planned – according to this article from 2010. The musical felt very theatrical, and the score was very theatrical, so it feels natural to adapt it. I’d love to see what it looks like on film. And, while I’d like to see the original Broadway cast reprise their roles, they’ll probably all be too old to realistically portray college students.

A miniseries is also being planned. The miniseries will be based on the novel, which is quite a bit different from the musical.

Final thoughts

Winnipeggers should try their best to see Wicked while it is here. While it isn’t perfect, it’s charming, fun, and well performed. Tickets are a bit on the pricy side, but treat yourself and enjoy dinner before the show in our wonderful Exchange District.