#umm also did I mention he is very hot. his lil haircut is so cute his red eyebrows I wanna smooch him so bad

[philhoffman]

Continuing my Monday Philm watch of The Hunger Games this week with Mockingjay: Part 1 (2014)!

I love that, unlike the books, the movies show a wider perspective than just Katniss’s. It just makes sense to do that when adapting a book to the screen, so of course they did, but it’s really great. Some of those scenes with Snow and his people in the Capitol are the best in the whole film. A lot of enjoyable performances by incredible actors but on this watch, I realized Sam Claflin Is perfectly cast — his work as Finnick brings this gravity and desperation and numbness to every scene he’s in.

(Side note: the albums for all of the THG movies slap. The first movie’s is one of the first albums I can remember really falling in love with as a teenager and listening to it now is so... nostalgic. I’ve only listened to the Catching Fire and Mockingjay albums more recently but they slap!!!)

Reading the books a few weeks ago, I was struck by how funny and lighthearted Plutarch is — partly because I didn’t remember Phil’s portrayal being so goofy. But on a rewatch, it comes out a lot more in a subtle sort of way. A lot livelier than in Catching Fire. Plutarch is still the most positive thinker in 13 — perhaps it’s because he’s sheltered, but he’s so optimistic (until he’s faced with the possibility of actual death during the bombings, in which case he quiets down for a bit). He’s so smirky, and even though he lectures Effie on adjusting to life in District 13, he’s probably closer to her position and discomfort than he is to anyone else’s situation in those bunkers. I really love their scenes together, it’s so easy to tell they’ve known each other for years and the Capitol party banter between those two must’ve been incredible.

I always have to replay the “you’ve just been in BATTLE” scene a dozen times and it makes me laugh uncontrollably every time... love that glimpse at PSH the director LMAO!

Since this was my first time watching MJ1 all the way through since I first saw it (aka before I was a PSH Stan™), it was also the first time I was keeping an eye out for his missing/altered scenes. The scene when Effie gives Katniss the Mockingjay costume designs from Cinna was supposed to be Plutarch. I knew that, but it really hit me when she said the line about missing coffee — in the back of my mind I’d been wondering why they never included that little part of his character from the book in the films, and then I realized they did, but. It was really sad, just knowing they filmed it and were talking about his character after Philip’s death. And knowing that one of these scenes was likely the last thing he ever filmed, sweet boy. I also wonder if, like in the book, Plutarch was supposed to be in the post-bombing scene when they go outside to record propos among the white roses. Very few title cards hurt more than that last one (and still jarring after all these years).

To end on a positive note, this is just such a sweet performance. All the little details Phil put into this role — his notebook (which Julianne Moore said he was always writing in), the way he mouths along to Coin’s last speech that he very obviously wrote, when he wipes a tear away (after hearing the speech that he very obviously wrote). “I’m optimistic,” with his little smile. The same care and depth he put into every role. It was about a year ago, while watching his first scene (“People don’t always show up the way you want them to.”), that I texted my best friend that this Philip Seymour Hoffman guy was kinda cute. It’s really only gotten better since then.