mockingjay, part 1: post-traumatic stress katniss

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 picked up right where the second film, Catching Fire left off, but viewers may still feel like they got caught in a different film franchise, though it is following the original story, written by Suzanne Collins, (who also gets a screen credit for adapting her novel). This film is very deliberately paced, some may even feel slow-moving. But it is a very different story than the first few films, which followed Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) as she tried to survive two Hunger Games, an annual ritual that pits young people from each district in the country of Panem in a fight for survival — only the strong, and the last person standing — make it out alive. But in both instances Katniss thwarted the powers that be, which distinctly upset oligarch President Snow (Donald Sutherland). In her first Hunger Games she managed to also save fellow District 12 resident Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Snow sent the pair and a host of other champions back the following year, trying to kill all of the insurgent birds with one stone. But Katniss destroyed the game zone and was airlifted out with other contestants Finnick (Sam Claflin) and Beetee (Jeffrey Wright), but Peeta was left behind, his whereabouts and fate unknown.

A rose by any other name — President Snow leaves a gift for Katniss

As the new film begins the Hunger Games are no more, and Katniss is bereft. She wakes up in the vast underground bunker of District 13, which had perviously been assumed to have been destroyed by Snow and the Capitol forces. But it has been built into a hidden fortress, led by the steely President Coin (Julianne Moore) with ex-Capitol advisor Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman) at her side. Plutarch is convinced that Katniss, as the "Mockingjay" is the symbol they need for a successful revolution. Coin listens to him, but doesn't always agree. Katniss is reunited with her mother and sister Prim, who seem to have (mostly) adjusted to the totalitarian environment, and old pal Gale, who still seem to carry a torch for her, when he isn't busy becoming an uber-soldier for Coin. But Katniss can't connect with much around her, haunted by her guilt over the destruction of her home, District 12, and especially the missing Peeta's and her feelings for him. Mockingjay Part 1 is about war and its after-effects, from Katniss grappling with post-traumatic stress disorder to Snow's attempts to match District 13's rebellion with attacks on all of the country's districts — innocent lives lost to make a point.

The first film in the series to be shot digitally, Mockingjay Part 1 is dark, with much of the action taking place underground in District 13. Also the first not to be released in IMAX, the film didn't bow to the blockbuster de riguer 3D, which it had no need of. But what really sets the film apart is the quality of its cast. It is fascinating to watch Lawrence as Katniss, a raw nerve, and more of a pawn than ever, being buffeted by the political and emotional forces around her. Philip Seymour Hoffman is also a wonder, as always, bringing layers of nuance to his role as the main brain of the war room. The film is dedicated to his memory.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Julianne Moore appear in their fourth film together (Boogie Nights, The Big Lebowski, and Magnolia)

As dark and serious as things are for Katniss, there are also some welcome moments of levity. It is great to see her trainers Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) and Effie (Elizabeth Banks) again. Both actors have a blast with their fish-out-of water characters, a dried-out Haymitch without his requisite bottle of spirits to help him through the day, and the irrepressible Effie suffering from all the gray-on-gray surrounding her. A big silly cat called Buttercup also brings not just a touch of humor to a few scenes, but provides for a silly, but necessary jolt of action mid-film.

In the land of the drab, Effie makes it work

Is Mockingjay Part 1 a film that can stand on its own? Yes and no. It works well as a set-up for the final installment, due this time next year. Could it work without the greater context of the Hunger Games? Not really, but it wasn't really intended to. This is serial story-telling. It is hard to call it a cash grab, however, as might be said about the bloated approach to The Hobbit taken by Peter Jackson. Mockingjay's themes of war and its aftermath, especially the toll it takes on the young is worthy of exposition. A single film may have had to rush Katniss's experiences in favor of a fiery finale. Mockingjay may not be the blockbuster movie that everyone thought they were going to get, but in this age of televised torture and warfare, it may be the deeply emotional film that we need.

i try, but i can't help it, i find julianne moore annoying

I think I'm supposed to like Julianne Moore — we all are, aren't we? She's a multi-Academy Award nominated actress (Boogie Nights, The End of the Affair, Far from Heaven, The Hours). But when I see her in a movie I can't help it, I cringe inwardly. I'm sure in real life she's just delightful — she seems like she would be from interview snippets I've seen. As I took a glance at some of the movies that I have seen her in over the years I started to feel better. I think I'm supposed to dislike her. Either that, or the majority of parts she has selected (or has been chosen) to play are intrinsically annoying characters. Really. Moore even supports my argument:

"I never care that [my characters] are "strong". I never care that they're even affirmative. I look for that thing that's human and recognizable and emotional. You know, we're not perfect, we're not heroic, we're not in control. We're our own worst enemies sometimes, we cause our own tragedies ... that's the stuff that I think is really compelling." — Wikipedia citing "Episode 7, Julianne Moore". Inside the Actors Studio. Season 9. December 22, 2002.

Well that makes me feel a little less guilty. Let's review.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park: Save yourself - she's dangerous!

1995's Nine Months is probably the first movie I ever saw Moore in, and it wasn't a pleasant introduction. The entire film is offensive, but her whining, cliched pregnant woman is so annoying that it's understandable boyfriend Hugh Grant is having second thoughts about their relationship.


She was equally annoying in The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) as intrepid, downright foolhardy scientist Sarah Harding, who nearly gets boyfriend Jeff Goldblum eaten by ferocious dinosaurs and anyone else who happens to get in the way, too.


I found all of 2002's The Hours pretty obnoxious, especially Nicole Kidman's so-noticeable proboscis prosthesis as author Virginia Woolf, so it probably isn't fair to single out Moore's character of Laura Brown, who is supposed to be a modernized Clarissa Dalloway. But I will, anyway.

2002's Far from Heaven is supposed to be Moore's masterpiece. It is visually compelling, and she gives it her all, but I didn't connect with her tortured '50s housewife as much as I did her wardrobe.

Far From Heaven: Cool sunglasses

A Single Man: With friends like these ...

A Single Man (2009) is a very lovely understated movie about George Falconer (Colin Firth), a college professor who has just lost his partner Jim in a car accident. Moore plays his self-centered "friend" Charley who makes a clumsy pass at him when he is at his most vulnerable.

As Jules in 2010's The Kids Are All Right she severely, even blithely, risks her long-term committed relationship to partner Nic (Annette Bening) by having an affair with the sperm donor father of their two children, Paul (Mark Ruffalo).


In the recent Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011) she played Emily Weaver, a woman who has become disillusioned and bored with her marriage to high-school sweetheart Cal. She callously tells him she is having an affair with her co-worker (Kevin Bacon) and asks for a divorce. I can't say I was really rooting for Emily and Cal to get back together, even though that's where all Hollywood movie scripts are headed.

Crazy, Stupid, Love.: Look out, Mr.

I think I prefer to see Moore in a large ensemble piece, where she is just part of the action. I like her better when she isn't front and center. Even if her character has annoying qualities, I find her performances in movies like  Boogie Nights (1997), The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), and The Shipping News (2001) more successful.

Moore is really going for an unlikable character in her next film, Carrie, where she will play the ultimate messed up mom, Margaret White. I have no desire to see it, really — do we need a third version of Stephen King's novel? — but I also have no doubt that Moore will bring exactly the right quality to make me dislike her immensely.