McQueen has taken the raw materials of filmmaking and committed an act of great art.
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04/02/09
Hunger (2008)
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Reviews Counted:105
Fresh:94
Rotten:11
Average Rating:7.7/10
Consensus: Unflinching, uncompromising, vivid and vital. Steve McQueen’s challenging debut is not for the faint hearted, but still a richly rewarding retelling of troubled times.
Theatrical Release:31-10-2008
Synopsis: Renowned English video artist Steve McQueen's feature film debut, HUNGER, is a cinematic punch to the gut. McQueen brings a visceral intensity to his retelling of the hunger strike instigated by... [More]
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham, Stuart Graham, Brian Milligan
Director: Steve McQueen
Reviews for Hunger
In the end, it is not Bobby Sands but Michael Fassbender we are looking at, and this realization takes us out of the movie just as surely as (for me) De Niro's fattening up did in Raging Bull.
03/30/09
Although a fictional documentary of a story that has been covered extensively there is nothing like seeing the on-screen portrayal of a man slowly dying for a cause.
03/29/09
McQueen shows Sand's skin and bones then his blurred view of the ceiling, always striking a balance between static, distant observation and the taste of abraded knuckles.
03/27/09
A visually ravishing tour of hell and a meditation on freedom that at best is wordlessly profound and at worst interestingly obscure.
03/26/09
In the end, even though I recognized the need to be reminded of Guantánamo and of crimes carried out there, I was awed but not moved by Hunger.
03/23/09
It’s rigorous, evocative, and, in spite of its grisly imagery, elegant. It’s a triumph -- of masochistic literal-mindedness.
03/23/09
"Hunger" comes off as a piece of stunt filmmaking that places physical reality above historic relevance. The film is as opaque as its title.
03/21/09
Heartbreaking, poignant, haunting and captivating from start to finish.
03/20/09
A mesmerizing 96 minutes of cinema, one of the truly extraordinary filmmaking debuts of recent years.
03/20/09
Regardless of politics, one must grant McQueen's substantial gifts, which bring to mind Paul Greengrass in another Northern Ireland film, Bloody Sunday.
03/20/09
With calm, deliberate attention -- an approach at once compassionate and dispassionate -- Hunger explores physical extremity and political extremism.
03/20/09
Top CriticThat a film this masterful is the product of a first-time filmmaker is astonishing. The harrowing, contemplative Hunger is, without question, one of the gutsiest, most self-assured initial films ever made.
03/19/09
a starkly realistic counterpoint to the often-lyrical treatment in film of the British/Irish "Troubles."
03/19/09
So effectively depicts a special kind of hell that it makes you root for those poor sons-of-bitches in the prison regardless of what they may have done to earn their place there.
03/19/09
Shockingly immediate and philosophically reflective, Hunger is an indelibly moving tribute to what makes us human.
03/19/09
Young British writer-director Steve McQueen's directorial debut is an emotionally devastating drama that isn't for the squeamish.
03/19/09
The contrast of procedural English police maneuvers with the feral panic of the Republican prisoners is riveting to witness, colored fascinatingly by McQueen's unspoken moments of reflection as both sides process the daily blasts of violence.
03/19/09
For your art-house pleasure and discomfort, here's one of the most talked-about film-festival triumphs of 2008, a disturbingly avid re-creation of the last six weeks in the life and slow, self-imposed wasting of Irish hunger striker Bobby Sands.
03/18/09
As prison-movie machismo, Walter Hill’s Undisputed is better; as visual art, Jan Troell’s Everlasting Moments is superior.
03/18/09
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