Hungry Hearts

Judging by the comments of previous reviewers, Saverio Costanzo's film has divided reviewers and audiences alike. Perhaps this is due to its combination of tones: the apparently artless beginning that does not prepare us in any way for the film's major issue, that of how to reconcile one's inner beliefs with the realities of bringing up a child. Or perhaps it's because of the desperate measures adopted by the child's grandmother (Roberta Maxwell) in an attempt to ensure the child's future welfare. Some have dismissed them as melodramatic: one wonders what they might do in a similar situation.

The main point at issue here is one of obsession: Mina (Alba Rohrwacher) believes that her newly-born son is somehow special and needs to be "protected" from supposedly corrupting influences such as doctors, red meat or sunlight. The fact that this results in the child's attenuated growth is a side-effect. Her husband Jude (Adam Driver) tries to make her see reason (as he perceives it), but fails to do so. Director Costanzo invites us to reflect on the morality of both protagonists - is one "right" and the other "wrong"? Or are there other issues involved here?

What gives the film its particular resonance is its style. Very little music appears on the soundtrack - except at the end; hence we as viewers are not guided into making a specific response to what we see. Fabio Cianchetti's camera is fond of consciously out-of-focus shots, transforming the characters into other-worldly beings rather than New Yorkers. This strategy reminds us quite powerfully of how anyone departing from ideological or social behavioral norms is invariably dismissed as "deviant." Sometimes this visual technique seems excessive - as for example, when Mina is shot in such a way as to emphasize a large head and skinny body - but we can understand the purpose behind it.

In this kind of film, it is difficult to maintain some sense of dramatic balance. All credit, then, to the three protagonists, whose performances seem inspired by the situations contained in the screenplay, and refrain from dramatic or gestural excesses.

"Hungry Hearts" starts out strongly. The opening few minutes is set in a bathroom in the basement of a Chinese restaurant. Mina and Jude (total strangers at the time) somehow get trapped in there together when the door gets jammed - just as he's rendered the bathroom - well - let's just say it didn't smell very fresh. It was actually a fun and humorous way to introduce the two protagonists of the movie. But it should be noted that the opening scene really is the only fun and humorous scene of an otherwise very heavy and even at times depressing movie. Which isn't to say that it wasn't good, but the opening few minutes doesn't really set us up for the rest of the film, at least in terms of its tone. It's also not really what I would call a thriller, even though it's billed as a thriller. A psychological drama - tense at times, perhaps - but it really doesn't have all that many thrills.

After the opening scene the movie settles down for a little while, basically showing us rather quickly the evolution of Mina and Jude's relationship. They sleep together, they fall in love, she gets pregnant, they get married, they have a baby boy. All that happens in rather quick succession, and it's after the birth of the baby that the movie develops its more tense atmosphere.

Basically, Mina and Jude disagree about how to raise a child. It seems to start when Mina is told by some sort of psychic that her child is "special - an "indigo baby" (some sort of silly new age idea that I had never heard of until I watched this.) Mina treats the baby strangely. She weans him very early, won't feed him any meat or protein, won't take him outside into the sunlight. It's all rather bizarre. Jude finally gets worried because the baby isn't growing. A doctor tells him the baby is undernourished, etc., etc. The two find themselves at odds over how to raise the child - which isn't all that unusual. Different parents have different parenting styles - but usually it's a conflict between the parents, with no real harm done to the child. But in this case, Mina is hurting the child. And she's doing damage to herself. She's a vegan, but more than that I thought there were suggestions that she had an eating disorder. There were references to her wasting away, and director Saverio Costanzo used some very effective camera angles that accentuated how thin she was, which suggested that she was mentally ill. Because this is billed as a thriller, you keep expecting that angle to become front and centre, but it really doesn't. There's some scenes where the suspense is built especially through the use of music - and you expect something to happen, but then it dissipates - until the end, when something shocking does indeed happen. It wasn't what I was expecting, but I did think it was pretty good.

Alba Rohrwacher was the actress who played Mina - and she was very good in the role; completely believable. Her accent at times made it hard to capture some of the dialogue completely, but she did a fine job, and - to me - her performance was the highlight of the movie. Adam Driver as Jude was probably more central to the story. Jude was torn between his love for Mina and his concern for his child. Driver didn't take anything away from the movie, but I didn't think he nailed his part as well as Rohrwacher did hers.

If you're expecting a classic type of thriller, this will probably disappoint you. But it's not a bad movie. It's well acted and it raises some valid issues about different parenting styles - albeit taken to an extreme. (7/10)

In the beginning of this movie you get more or less the "romantic" story about how our two protagonists, Mina and Jude, got together, but things really start to get interesting when their child is on the way. During the pregnancy the viewer already experiences the opposite positions that each partner has about their baby. Mina, who is portrayed by and outstanding and excellent Alba Rohrwacher, has a rather extreme attitude towards modern medicine, nutrition and cleanness. Jude (Adam Driver) tries to be the supporting husband but after seeing that Mina's methods endanger their child, he is forced to act against his wife's will.

This movie has a very realistic tone to it. There isn't much music to be heard and the colors are kept quite cool as well. Already in the first scene of the movie, where the couple meets in the bathroom you experience an awkward feeling that didn't really let go of me throughout the whole film. Maybe that is because the actions of all three main characters (including Jude's mother who also distributes a lot to the plot of this movie) seem somehow relatable even though they are sometime quite drastic. Especially Mina is an interesting character. She has those really extreme obsessions but somehow you still can relate to her and she feels like a real person and in no way stereotypical crazy. On the other hand there is Jude who really loves his wife and tries everything to be supportive of her but at some point that can't continue and so he is more or less forced to act against her interests for the good of their child. As a viewer I could understand both characters very well and it left me kind of torn between whom to sympathize with.

All in all, it really is an enjoyable movie though it is more of a psychological drama than a thriller and my problem with it was that the plot got a bit boring in the middle part because the actions of the characters seem repetitive. Although the ending and the character portrayals were great it is not a must-watch and certainly not a movie for everyone.

Great acting, but for me it was difficult and painful to watch. The plot, combined with the way it was filmed, these weird angels, it was a bit too much.

While we patiently wait for Adam Driver to become a household name, there's plenty of big screen spoils from last year's film festivals to enjoy, including While We're Young and Hungry Hearts. It opens with a misleading, endearing and hilarious meet-cute where Driver and co-star Alba Rohrwacher first fall in love trapped in a bathroom with Driver's own stench. Perhaps sly foreshadowing that their story revolves around nutrition, I didn't expect the film to focus on the 'hungry' part of its 'hearts' while I prepared for something humorous and composed. It's none of those two. While it peaks in its opening minutes, that's not to say there isn't something of worth to follow. The idea of having the diet of a child being the source of conflict between a couple is unique in cinema, but a very real concern. It does paint Rohrwacher as too much of a villain at times but the duo's impeccable performances do their characters justice and it's often heartbreaking. It's such a shame that it's incompetently shot. I get the raw intimate aesthetic, but it feels like rehearsal footage, and when it's being creative with fish eye lenses to distort Rohrwacher's figure, it feels far too on-the-nose. The misguided style holds the film back, but the performances win out.

7/10