Hungry Hearts

Wow, that was unpleasant to watch! A conjugal/family crisis portrayed as a psychological horror. The parents, Adam Driver and (the excellent!) Alba Rohrwacher, can not agree on how to raise and, especially, feed their newborn child. The initial verbal disagreements gradually escalate into an open and increasingly tense conflict. The rather unpleasant camera angles generate a feeling of uneasiness and anxiety. And then there is the defenceless child at stake, which doesn’t help the viewer, either. An impressive film, but I have some problems with its ending, I’m not really sure how to read it. In fact, I feel that the filmmakers themselves are unsure whether to take one side or the other, or to remain impartial. Taking one of the sides doesn’t fit into tone of the film, taking the other side is unethical. And I don’t see a completely unbiased portray, either. So, I don’t know. But it’s recommendable to watch and debate afterwards. (21/06/2015)

A rough human piece with a child as the main character whom the whole story revolves around and who doesn’t have a clue what’s going on. If you have a family, this movie will make you feel sick to your stomach; and if you don’t, you’ll still feel sick. But not because of the actors whose performances were very solid, including the kid. (05/08/2016)

What a disturbing film. I had to give it five stars, because (unlike other films) I don't think I’ll forget this experience any time soon. Alba Rohrwacher was excellent in the role of a dumb bitch the likes of which the Internet is full, advising each other on how to outsmart all the doctors and regulations whose only goal is to kill their Summer Storm by lethal vaccinations, wholesome food and use of common sense. The invasion of these mothers and all those who want to enrich our society with such medieval elements practically guarantees the rest of us a close encounter with the bubonic plague, for which I can only thank our idle government. Yes, a film that can get me worked up like this, as was the authors’ intention, deserves nothing but five stars. (02/03/2020)

Don't be fooled by the cute and comical beginning, this is definitely not going to be funny. I'm sure it's problematic in a relationship when one partner is going crazy and the other is trying to work through it. But this takes on a whole new dimension when it happens to a mother who, because of her beliefs, seriously endangers the health of her own child during pregnancy and its first months. Well, I think it's all too harmful. Towards the end, the cinematography makes the film look almost horrific, the social system in the USA looks unreal and absurd, and you just wonder how this will end – to my surprise, unexpectedly. I have nothing to fault the actors, Alba Rohrwacher is terrifying in the calmness and non-violence with which she plays her insanity, and Adam Driver, he rises with every role for me. (14/09/2016)

I don't quite understand the genre of this film (a woman running around a hospital after a C-section is without a doubt sci-fi), but for me it's closest to exploitation, where the main roles are a starving child and an overfed director who has a Hitchcock upturn - the taxidermic symbolism, wtf? I have to say that as a housing war for a baby filmed by a nasty fisheye, it's extremely entertaining, a B-movie, and solidly acted. But most of all, one must not take it seriously. #kviff2015 (11/07/2015)