DIRECTED by Sitisiri Mongkolsiri, Hunger is a movie about a street food cook who is hired to work with a chef of fine dining.
As the eldest of her siblings and the one who must lead the family business, Aoy (Chutimon ‘Aokbab’ Chuengcharoensukying) manages the modest family business Shuyou, which serves street food such Pad See Ew and Rad Na, together with her father.
When Tone (Gunn Svasti Na Ayudhya), a customer, offers her a position at Hunger, Thailand’s top fine dining restaurant, she accepts. Hunger is run by the renowned chef Paul (Nopachai ‘Peter’ Chaiyanam), who is in high demand.
The rest of the movie’s story follows Aoy as she deals with the challenges and journey of the fine dining industry, and sees how her own drive for success ultimately takes over her life.
It’s a movie that explores divisions in society, the pursuit of riches and prestige, and individual egos via the basic ideas of food and culinary snobbery. The director’s vision expresses how food affects social and economic classes, and how following ambition may lead people to lose all they value most.
In this movie, Aokbab delivered an outstanding performance as Aoy. It was fascinating to witness her journey. She begins as a frightened lady trying to win Chef Paul’s approval, and who puts up with the poisonous workplace to prove herself, but eventually, she has gained confidence and is no longer afraid by him. It was really thrilling to see her defeat Chef Paul by the end.
Personally, I didn’t like the love story between Aoy and Tone. It would have been preferable if they had continued to work together professionally to the very end.
But I suppose the filmmaker wanted some variety for the viewers, rather than merely highlighting the tense interactions between Chef Paul and Aoy.
Chef Paul definitely was my favourite character in the film. I wouldn’t describe him as the movie’s villain. If we were to examine things from his perspective, all he really wants is for his job to be flawless.
He is just performing his job to the best of his ability because he knows how the industry works, and he wants everyone around him, especially his employees, to be the best. He has a very realistic personality. Believe me when I say that every time he came on screen, I would feel shivers. Peter is such a talented actor and precisely captured the character’s feelings.
The meticulous preparation of each dish in each scenario is another noteworthy aspect. The music, cinematography, and camera work was all amazing as well. Although the latter act of the film felt a little draggy, it was still an exciting viewing. The food fight between Aoy and Chef Paul was one of the movie’s greatest scenes; it was really dramatic and fulfilling. I absolutely enjoyed the movie.
Hunger is now streaming on Netflix.
-> Director: Sitisiri Mongkolsiri
-> Cast: Chutimon ‘Aokbab’ Chuengcharoensukying, Nopachai ‘Peter’ Chaiyanam, Gunn Svasti Na Ayudhya
E-VALUE: 7
ACTING: 8
PLOT: 7
