Hunger Review

Streaming Movie Review

The need to feel special is something that most people have, though it is likely meant to be satisfied by a small number of people - close friends and family. But social media has made it that some now need the approval not merely of those who know us intimately, but of every person ever. For some people, especially those with extreme wealth, the desire to be special is met not necessarily with fame, but rather with access to things that are exclusive. How these two desires play off of one another is the subject of Sitisirir Mongkolsiri’s film “Hunger,” currently streaming on Netflix.

Aoy (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying) is a young woman working at her family’s noodle stand. She and her family struggle to make ends meet, and they all dream of being something more than this simple shop. One day, Tone (Gunn Svasti Na Ayudhya), the sous chef at Hunger, a world renowned restaurant stops by and offers Aoy an opportunity to come cook for Chef Paul (Nopachai Chaiyanam). She accepts the invitation and after being put through her paces by Chef Paul, she earns the honor of being a part of his team.

As she moves through the ranks, she discovers that while Chef Paul is indeed a brilliant chef, he is motivated by the hunger of those who cannot be satisfied more than by a passion for cooking. She must decide what it means to be special and what she is willing to sacrifice in order to achieve that.

I absolutely adored this film. There have been a lot of movies this year that have been fun and that I have enjoyed, but this one is a movie I will be thinking about well past the two hours that I watched it. The shots of the food, both being prepared and being served are stunning, and overall, I felt like the whole film had a really high production value.

The story is so much more thorough than anything I’ve seen in a while, and while the movie is long at nearly two and a half hours, the pacing was such that I never felt like it was dragging. My only quibble with the movie was the end that felt a little bit out of step with the overall tone of the film, but truly, I enjoyed the rest enough that I wasn’t completely put off by the end. 

The performances are all fantastic. I always suggest watching foreign language films with subtitles so that you can experience the full impact of the performances that the actors give, and that is no different this time. The passion of Aoy contrasted with the coldness of Chef Paul was brilliant and I loved how the actors played off of one another. No dub can capture that entirely.

As the gap between the extremely wealthy and the poor continues to grow, and as people are turning more and more to social media to find their self worth rather than to those closest to them, this movie feels like it is at the right time. ‘What are you hungry for,’ is a question worth asking, and this movie asks it brilliantly.

This review originally appeared in The Dominion Post on April 22, 2023.