sddavis63 "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)

Sergeant_Tibbs 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

Alex Ellis I loved it. Really did. At The next to the last scene, I was shocked and surprised and when it was over we turned to each other and said "that was good" I noticed the not washing the hands in the first scene too. I felt the claustrophobia of the apartment. I felt the desperation of the husband. I felt the psychosis of the mother. I felt sympathy for the grandmother. I was immersed in the film and enjoyed it. The run time is just over an hour. Perfect length. Satisfying ending. Strange stairs into the apartment. cool rooftop garden. I couldn't live in the city like that. I need room. I enjoyed the movie. Took place in New York City.

michaelblehrman The movie started out promising with a "meet cute" in a toilet, but the purported "stink" of that opening scene was actually a metaphor for the entire film. Despite valiant efforts by the two leads, the script and direction were so far fetched and over the top that no amount of good acting could save this piece of schlock. Weird camera angles that come and go for no apparent reason, an absurd wedding montage accompanied by the entirety of "Flashdance", again for no apparent reason, a house in Westchester filled with deer heads, again for no apparent reason...and the list could go on for pages. Roberta Maxwell's performance is a hoot for all the wrong reasons...like she has watched too many demonic possession films. And, no, she is not demonically possessed in the movie. The use of horror movie sound effects and strings to underscore the supposed tension actually brought laughs from the audience. And this is not a funny movie. What this film was doing in the Tribeca Film Festival is beyond me; and, yes, I understand that it did well at Venice. But...ugh. I'm guessing we won't see this film released on these shores.