The Hunger. (18.)
Directed by Tony Scott. 1983.
Starring Catherine Denueve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, Cliff De Young and Dan Hedaya. 96 mins. Released on Warner Bros Premium Collection containing a Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy of the films.
Catherine Denueve is a bi-sexual vampire who has been alive for over two thousand years, give or take, taking lovers for whom she promises eternal life without mentioning that after a couple of centuries that no longer includes eternal youth. She deadens and destroys everything she touches and makes promises she can't deliver on – as such she is the perfect subject for a Tony Scott film.
The gang of British directors that invaded Hollywood in the late 70s/ early 80s – brother Ridley, Alan Parker, Adrian Lyne and Hugh Hudson – always complained about how critics would never forgive them for having got their start in advertising. Now, a lot of people would say that working in advertising is unforgivable anyway (though they never seemed to hold it against Naughty But Nice Salman Rushdie, even though his Satanic Verses – Cheeky, But Heretical – caused us a world of problems, and was unreadable.) The issue with Scott T is that, unlike Ridley and Parker, his films never let you forget (or forgive) that he worked in advertising. They were extended promos for films that were supposed to be made but got mislaid because he never really got the hang of actually telling stories. His talent was to set a basic mood, project a few simple notions that he could get across with various little trick shots that got him through the adverts.
Style over substance they called it at the time, but this is style in opposition to substance. Somewhere in amongst the billowing drapes, the reflections of rain falling on windows and the shafts of light cutting through rooms there is a potentially interesting story, and a real film, struggling to get out but bludgeoned into submission under the iron fist of Scott's style.
The script uses the now familiar idea of Vampirism as a metaphor for addiction. A lot of blood has been sucked in the thirty plus years since The Hunger, but in 1983, when vampire lore was a little more Transylvania-centric than it is today, I'd imagine that its premise would have been quite novel. The script does a poor job of exploring it though. Not a lot happens, and when it does it doesn't make a great deal of sense. Why would Deneuve, having lived for a couple of millenium or so, turn Sarandon on a first date? Surely she has time to be a bit picky, or at least cautious about who she would reveal her dark secret to? The story doesn't have much in the way of internal logic, and what it does have it doesn't follow. (Sarandon on the commentary track complains about the arbitrary way the ending was changed.) Things happen because they look good.
Scott had a great cast to play with and I suspect they are on pretty good form though it is difficult to really make out what they are up to. Bowie is used in much the same way he was in The Man Who Fell To Earth, the enigmatic man in a hat, and it works well enough.
The 96 minutes of The Hunger represent the full extent of Tony Scott's career as an art house director. After this flopped he lucked into the job of directing Top Gun, became buddies with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and assured himself a lucrative future making action movies. (There is a parallel with Brother Ridley who started out with his mini Barry Lyndon effort The Duellists before ascending to the Hollywood big league with Alien.) The standard line is that after the arty pretension of The Hunger was rejected by audiences, he buckled down and became a proper mainstream film maker. But this is not the case, The Hunger is no worse than most of the other films he made, but most of the other films he made were commerical enough propositions to prosper anyway.
Wow, I really hate Tony Scott, don't I? (I did enjoy The Last Boy Scout when it came out, if that helps?) Apparently, the film has developed a cult following over the years, partly because of the lesbian scenes between Denueve and Sarandon and with people who are obsessed with its look. Even I can't deny that The Hunger is a perfect example of mid 80s style. If that's the thing you're into though, wouldn't you be better served watching VHS recordings of Network 7 episodes on your lovingly preserved retro video recorder, while flicking through an old copy of The Face?
Other Tony Scott reviews
True Romance
Unstoppable
The Taking of Pelham 123
Deja Vu
The Hunger. (18.)
Directed by Tony Scott. 1983.
Starring Catherine Denueve, David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, Cliff De Young and Dan Hedaya. 96 mins. Released on Warner Bros Premium Collection containing a Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy of the films.
Catherine Denueve is a bi-sexual vampire who has been alive for over two thousand years, give or take, taking lovers for whom she promises eternal life without mentioning that after a couple of centuries that no longer includes eternal youth. She deadens and destroys everything she touches and makes promises she can't deliver on – as such she is the perfect subject for a Tony Scott film.
The gang of British directors that invaded Hollywood in the late 70s/ early 80s – brother Ridley, Alan Parker, Adrian Lyne and Hugh Hudson – always complained about how critics would never forgive them for having got their start in advertising. Now, a lot of people would say that working in advertising is unforgivable anyway (though they never seemed to hold it against Naughty But Nice Salman Rushdie, even though his Satanic Verses – Cheeky, But Heretical – caused us a world of problems, and was unreadable.) The issue with Scott T is that, unlike Ridley and Parker, his films never let you forget (or forgive) that he worked in advertising. They were extended promos for films that were supposed to be made but got mislaid because he never really got the hang of actually telling stories. His talent was to set a basic mood, project a few simple notions that he could get across with various little trick shots that got him through the adverts.
Style over substance they called it at the time, but this is style in opposition to substance. Somewhere in amongst the billowing drapes, the reflections of rain falling on windows and the shafts of light cutting through rooms there is a potentially interesting story, and a real film, struggling to get out but bludgeoned into submission under the iron fist of Scott's style.
The script uses the now familiar idea of Vampirism as a metaphor for addiction. A lot of blood has been sucked in the thirty plus years since The Hunger, but in 1983, when vampire lore was a little more Transylvania-centric than it is today, I'd imagine that its premise would have been quite novel. The script does a poor job of exploring it though. Not a lot happens, and when it does it doesn't make a great deal of sense. Why would Deneuve, having lived for a couple of millenium or so, turn Sarandon on a first date? Surely she has time to be a bit picky, or at least cautious about who she would reveal her dark secret to? The story doesn't have much in the way of internal logic, and what it does have it doesn't follow. (Sarandon on the commentary track complains about the arbitrary way the ending was changed.) Things happen because they look good.
Scott had a great cast to play with and I suspect they are on pretty good form though it is difficult to really make out what they are up to. Bowie is used in much the same way he was in The Man Who Fell To Earth, the enigmatic man in a hat, and it works well enough.
The 96 minutes of The Hunger represent the full extent of Tony Scott's career as an art house director. After this flopped he lucked into the job of directing Top Gun, became buddies with producer Jerry Bruckheimer and assured himself a lucrative future making action movies. (There is a parallel with Brother Ridley who started out with his mini Barry Lyndon effort The Duellists before ascending to the Hollywood big league with Alien.) The standard line is that after the arty pretension of The Hunger was rejected by audiences, he buckled down and became a proper mainstream film maker. But this is not the case, The Hunger is no worse than most of the other films he made, but most of the other films he made were commerical enough propositions to prosper anyway.
Wow, I really hate Tony Scott, don't I? (I did enjoy The Last Boy Scout when it came out, if that helps?) Apparently, the film has developed a cult following over the years, partly because of the lesbian scenes between Denueve and Sarandon and with people who are obsessed with its look. Even I can't deny that The Hunger is a perfect example of mid 80s style. If that's the thing you're into though, wouldn't you be better served watching VHS recordings of Network 7 episodes on your lovingly preserved retro video recorder, while flicking through an old copy of The Face?
Other Tony Scott reviews
True Romance
Unstoppable
The Taking of Pelham 123
Deja Vu
