Hunger

It's interesting that our main character starts out as a gaunt, slender man. But we soon find out about his voracious appetite. As he consumes everything in his path he grows larger and larger. Of course, we have a metaphor for gluttony in all its forms. The man is in no state of love or acceptance, but rather is like black holees from, taking in everything that is foodworthy. This has a striking effect and is hard to take our eyes from it.

This is a fascinating film--not so much for what it says but because it looks so very, very early 1970s. When I watched it, it brought back memories of super-wide neckties, crazy hair and intense colors. I also liked the quality of the animation--though it was, at times, hard on the eyes. The way things seemed to morph in the film was pretty interesting. However, while there were some interesting elements, the film got old very, very quickly. It was so hard on the eyes and other senses that it was tough watching it to the conclusion.

I can see that all the other reviews have been extremely positive and I'm glad they liked it. However, I truly can't see the average person sitting through this film--it's definitely for a very select audience.

I am in the field of Computer Graphics. I saw this film in 1979 as part of a course. It is an early example of morphing. But what got me was what started out as a technical viewing ended up as an emotional one so now 20 years later I can still remember "Hunger" quite clearly.

I just have to express my love for this film. When we look at most computer animated films, even non animation buffs can tell you that what you are looking at has been generated by computer. Not so with "Hunger". There is none of that plastic shine usually associated with computer animation, and the images are two-dimensional. It looks at first like regular animation, but strange things happen. There is a moment right at the end that is one of the creepiest things I've ever seen in film. When the innocent looking children suddenly grow huge fangs and devour our "hero", we can see early uses of "morphing". True it is nowhere as smooth as later examples, but I think in Hunger's case, it works beautifully. The "primitiveness" of the film only adds to its effect. The way the lines break apart and form new ones is crude, yes, but at the some time it looks almost as if the drawing have a life of their own. They move with a strange fluidity. Of course another reason I love the film is simply because it is very profound and is addressing issues that are usually ignored in computer animation in favor of fancy tricks

On one of the comments of Thomas Knowler's animated short, Gorge, in the Cartoon Brew site, this particular person compared it to Peter Foldes' Hunger of which this person provided a link to the National Film Board of Canada site where it resides. So with my curiosity stoked, I decided to watch this animated short there. Before I begin the review, let me mention that this was the first time a computer aided in the making of an animated film which gets noticed when a figure obviously not drawn by hand appears in the middle of the short. Okay, so a man who loves to eat does so in big gulps. And he just keeps getting more obese as the short keeps going on. And then when he encounters a group of people who are starving...well, just watch this film if you want to know. The score is by Pierre Brault and it goes from repetitive to maybe a little bluesy and back again to disturbing effect. Artistically, I don't consider this one of the best I've seen but it sure is very compellingly drawn and effective, message-wise. So on that note, Hunger is definitely worth a look.