“The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” a book written by Suzanne Collins, was recently made into a film adaptation by Lionsgate. “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” takes place in the districts and capitol of Panem during the 10th annual Hunger Games.
Lucy Gray Baird is reaped as District 12’s female tribute for the games, where she is assigned a mentor to get her to survive them. That mentor is none other than Coriolanus Snow. In the film, Lucy is willing to do almost anything to get back home, and Snow will do anything to win the prize he gets if Lucy turns out the victor of the games. A romance may be brewing between the two, but Lucy is about to be sent to her death in an arena, and it’s his job to make sure she gets out alive.
“The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes” was a lot of things; suspenseful, exciting, violent, and among those qualities, the movie was absolutely astounding. I don’t know what I was expecting when I walked into that theater, but it was definitely not what I saw.
I loved “The Ballad Of Songbirds and Snakes” the most because of the soundtrack. Every single song adaptation was so beautifully crafted and exactly how I imagined them while reading the book. On the contrary, the film was quite long. A lot of people have claimed that the movie was too long and they didn’t like it because of that reason. I, however, believe that it simply allowed us to see further into Coriolanus and Lucy Gray’s relationship with much more detail.
Lucy Gray Baird is the most endearing person in the movie because of her personality, performing abilities, and mystique. I never knew what was going to happen next when I was watching the scenes she was in.
While Lucy Gray may be the most endearing person in the ballad of songbirds and snakes, I think that Coriolanus Snow was one of the most entertaining characters because we get to see how every decision he and the people around him made, impacted who he truly was in the original “The Hunger Games” films.
Furthermore, the costumes used in the production were phenomenal! I positively loved Lucy Gray’s dress. In the book it is explained as “an ombré skirt and a faux corset top that has flowers and snakes printed all over. Comes with lace-up details on the back.” I will admit, when I pictured this dress in my head, there were some minor changes my mind made. Nevertheless, I believe that Trish Summerville did an exceptional job designing it.
Other costumes, such as Corio’s shirt in the first scene was described as a cream-colored (white) dress shirt with stripes that was originally covered in cigar burns. However, Coriolanus’s cousin, Tigress, redesigned the shirt and it came out looking utterly fabulous! She even used tile to fix the missing buttons. The movie did an amazing job portraying this and the shirt looked exactly how I would have imagined it.
I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who is or has been a fan of the Hunger Games franchise. Though, if a person has not seen and or read “The Hunger Games,” I would still suggest they try it out. On a final note, Suzanne Collins did an exceptional job telling the story, and Lionsgate did even better bringing it to life.
