Indie Gems: Hunger

-
What extreme are you willing to go to get your point across?

Hunger follows the lives of prisoners in Northern Ireland in the 1981. Specifically around the IRA Hunger Strike. The main focus is on Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender) who goes through the hunger strike. Though we start the film with a guard played by Stuart Graham and another prisoner, Davey (Brian Milligan) before we get to Bobby himself.

After seeing both Shame and 12 Years a Slave, I knew I had to check out director Steve McQueen's first feature film. His honest style is still there. He never shies away from showing us something graphic if it's necessary to see. Admittedly, I don't know a lot about the IRA hunger strike. So even though this film is very bleak, I found it to be very interesting.

Saying that Fassbender is great almost feels repetitive at this point because I don't think I've ever seen him give a bad performance. He works well with McQueen and it's easy to see why they did it two more times after this.

Grade: B

Memorable Quote: "I don't think I can see you again, Bobby.) - Father Moran (Liam Cunningham)

Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 20, 2015 at 7:42 AM

    I gave this a B as well. I found aspects of this so well done, and yet there were moments when my attention floundered.

    Also, am I the only one who questions whether Fassbender is kind of supporting, since he's only a noticeable force in like the second half of the film...?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMarch 20, 2015 at 10:34 AM

      I'd call him supporting too since it takes him forever to show up. But he's the most well known, so I suppose he's lead by default.

      Delete
  2. s.March 20, 2015 at 3:13 PM

    This was so difficult to sit through. I don't think I saw many performances portraying agony more accurately than Fassbender did here, if any

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMarch 21, 2015 at 6:38 AM

      Oh for sure. The last half of this film is just brutal.

      Delete
  3. LukeMarch 21, 2015 at 11:04 AM

    McQueen has a knack for portraying characters going through both psychological and physical pain. To think that this was his debut. McQueen's shots in this film very much call attention to the fact that he was an artist before taking up filmmaking.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamMarch 23, 2015 at 3:03 AM

      He shoots beautifully. And you're right, he's very good at showing that side of his characters.

      Delete
  4. UnknownMarch 23, 2015 at 2:16 PM

    I loved this movie. One of the things I appreciated about it was that we got a glimpse of the guards' lives as well as the experiences of the prisoners. I was also amazed at how the film left so much unsaid in such a brilliant way. And that dialogue between Fassbender's character and the priest is unforgettable.

    Great review!

    ReplyDelete
  5. JoshApril 3, 2015 at 1:13 PM

    This movie feels a bit scattered, but I love it still. And Fassbender can, indeed, do no wrong.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Brittani BurnhamApril 4, 2015 at 6:53 AM

      I was surprised that he isn't even introduced until about the halfway point. I wasn't expecting that at all.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for stopping by, let's talk movies!
(comments are moderated to reduce spam)

Popular posts from this blog

Random Ramblings: The Radio Flyer Conundrum

-
Image
Recently, I was talking to someone about who I thought were the best child actors when I was also a child.  Two that really stood out to me were Elijah Wood and Joseph Mazello, and one film those two were in together was called Radio Flyer.  Then I was reminded about the uniqueness of this film. Instead of reviewing the film, I wanted to have an open discussion about the ending. It deals with a tough issue; child abuse. What I’ve noticed is the way that the film ends is interpreted many different ways, and the filmmakers never came forward to say what was right and wrong. I’m interested in hearing everyone’s opinions on it. How did you interpret the ending? Obviously spoiler alerts will follow.. For those of you who haven’t seen the film, the basic premise is this: Two young boys, Mikey (Wood) and Bobby (Mazello) move in with their single mother and her boyfriend, who refers to himself as ‘The King’. It doesn’t take long for The King to start physically abusing ...
Read more

Indie Gems: Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon

-
Image
Passionate about your profession? I had never heard of this film until it ended up on one of Jason's favorite horror movie lists around Halloween. It immediately sounded interesting to me, so of course I threw it in my Netflix queue. (and if I'm just now watching it after adding it around Halloween, you know how ridiculous my queue is) Taylor (Angela Goethals) is a journalist who, along with a film crew decides to follow around a serial killer named Leslie Vernon. (Nathan Baesel) He plans on doing the typical slasher thing - getting a bunch of drunk teens in an abandoned house and knocking them off one by one. He gets advice from a retired serial killer, Eugene (Scott Wilson) and is threatened by a man who's on to him, Doc Holloran (Robert Englund) Taylor and crew are there capturing it all. Leslie Vernon is fucking hilarious to start with, and clearly very passionate about what he does. He tells Taylor all of his secrets and can barely contain his excitemen...
Read more

My Favorite Movie Youtube Channels

-
Image
Starting around 2018, I started watching Youtube for more than just movie trailers or music videos whenever a new one dropped. Now I'm in full blown subscription mode and don't bat an eyelash at watching a Youtube video that's over an hour long. I watch Youtube for a few different categories of content, but one of them that I love most is movie/TV essays and commentary, and that's what I'm going to talk about today. Below is a list of my favorite movie related Youtube channels. Let me know if you're familiar with them too, or if you have any you'd like to recommend to me.  Double Toasted - I'm honestly surprised this channel isn't bigger. I first came across Korey and Martin when they reviewed War for the Planet of the Apes a few months before it hit theaters and I thought they were hysterical. While their full length videos stream on Twitch, they often upload their movie reviews and commentary on youtube and they're always hilarious. They've...
Read more