Hunger is the first movie by Steve McQueen, starring Michael Fassbender and Liam Cunningham.
Plot:
Hunger is the story of Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender). He was a member of the IRA and imprisoned in the 80s. He participated in the No Wash strike and later initiated the 1981 hunger strike, from which he died. The movie dramatises the last 6 weeks of his life and the strikes in general.
Hunger asks a lot of the audience – but you don’t really notice while you’re watching. It’s only when you leave the cinema that you notice how completely drained you are. But it’s also very rewarding to watch it, to, yes, put yourself through it.
Steve McQueen is magnificently talented. He has the ability to make you focus completely on the story and on the actors but when you turn your attention to his job, you notice how absolutely awesome it is and planned in the smallest details.
The movie has barely any dialogue. But the images McQueen chooses say everything you need to know. The result is a calm, deliberate and freakishly intense movie that nevertheless never seems too much.
In the middle of the film there’s this one really long shot with a stationary camery where Bobby discusses his decision to start a hunger strike with a priest and friend (Liam Cunningham). During the movie I noticed that it was long but I was captured, it was more a fleeting thought. And now I just read that the scene was 17 minutes long. Flabbergasting.
The performances were simply astonishing. Period. Michael Fassbender’s performance was especially mind-blowing. But the most memorable part will be the pictures Steve McQueen paints.
Summarising: Did I cry? Yes. Did I feel like shit watching? Yes. Would I watch it again? In a heartbeat.
kalafudra's Stuff 
Are you a masochist? Yes.
I’d like to watch this one, but only after appropriate prep (stocking up on booze, ice-cream and kids movies on DVD), and only once. Because this has “film I’ll only ever need to deal with once” written all over it. On the plus-side, that’s quite the illustrous category.
I probably am, when it comes to that. :)
We can watch it together, if my hand helps. ;)
And yes, the watched-once-never-again-it’s-too-horrifying category is an important one. But it’s equally important to not confuse it with the watched-once-never-again-it’s-too-horrible category.
Hands always help :)
Well, let’s face it…there is no way anyone would confuse, say, “BloodRayne” with “Requiem for a Dream”. It just wouldn’t happen.
…
I hope.
I hope so too. But who knows? Though that possibility is actually too terrifying to really consider.
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[…] dialogue) and boy, does he ever work that style. All movies should be this pitch perfect. And as in Hunger, he just nails the framing: that guy knows exactly where to put a camera. He definitely should […]