Eminently lovable and successful screen adaptation of the awesome young adult dystopian fantasy novel about the ultimate reality TV show. This is a terrific example of how we drink in information from images in seconds and it's beautifully done, heaped with cultural references the book didn't have time to create. Katniss sets off on her illegal hunting trip through an impoverished community surely inspired by gritty photos of the Great Depression, with undernourished kids, faded 30s style ragged clothes, flimsy chipboard houses and a general lack of white goods.

Everyone is faded, careworn, prematurely aged, ground down by a life of unrelenting grimness, a bit like our own dear country at the end of WWII. The people are kept in this state by the central government, which also imposes on them a yearly tribute (shades of The King Must Die I thought, rather than Rollerball etc) of one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in the 'Hunger Games', in which winning means being the only one left alive at the end. This event is televized and avidly consumed by both the oppressed Districts and the decadent, wealthy Capitol.

The scenes in the Capitol were stunning, combining splendid architecture and outlandish fashion to depict a society in its second childhood - spoiled, selfish, cruel, ready to obsess over the spectacle of children killing one another for their entertainment. I will not say one word more about the plot but you simply must go and see this. Jennifer Lawrence was superb as the angry young heroine Katniss. She's an athletic amazon, but has the level grey predator-stare of the young Charlotte Rampling or Lauren Bacall. Unmissable.