Hunger

As pretentious as it is engrossing, Hunger details the decidedly inhumane conditions within a prison designed to house dozens of Irish revolutionaries – including, among others, jittery newcomer Davey Gillen (Brian Milligan) and staunch activist Bobby Sands (Michael Fassbender). Director Steve McQueen, making his debut, has infused Hunger with an eye-catching visual sensibility that proves effective at hooking the viewer’s interest right from the get-go, with the movie’s methodical atmosphere heightened by the naturalistic performances and overall emphasis on authentic elements. It’s only as McQueen’s avant-garde tendencies become more and more pronounced that Hunger loses its vice-like grip on the viewer, as the filmmaker’s refusal to provide context for the various characters’ exploits is inevitably exacerbated by the narrative-free bent of McQueen and Enda Walsh’s screenplay. (And this is to say nothing of McQueen’s ongoing penchant for holding certain shots to an almost absurd degree, with a sequence in which a man slowly sweeps a hallway undoubtedly the most egregious example of this.) There’s no denying that McQueen’s self-indulgent shenanigans ultimately diminish the overall effectiveness of the movie, which is a shame, really, given that the director admittedly paints a very vivid picture of an extremely specific time and place – with, consequently, Fassbender’s hypnotic, downright stunning performance ranking as Hunger‘s only consistently compelling attribute.

**1/2 out of ****