The Best of British Cinema: ‘Hunger’ (2008)
Steve McQueen’s debut feature is one of the best British films of the 21st century
Steve McQueen is one of the absolute greatest directors currently working. The level of admiration I have for all of his films — from Hunger itself through to each and every individual ‘episode’ of his 5-part anthology masterwork Small Axe (2020) — is intense, and has been since I first got into his body of work. He was one of the very first filmmakers I came to recognise as a significant artist behind the camera, one whose every film was impactful and distinctive in its style. Like most, I came to discover McQueen through his (deserving) Best Picture winner 12 Years a Slave, but going back through his two other features and his numerous short films (at least, the ones that were discoverable on the internet back then — many still prove impossible to find now!) was a monumental personal experience.
That’s ironic, as McQueen didn’t begin his work as an artist anywhere near a camera. He began as a painter, eventually moving towards cinema to make films for his various art exhibitions. Most famous of all of these is his witty remake of one of Buster Keaton’s most famous silent cinema gags (from the 1928 film Steamboat Bill, Jr.) titled Deadpan, a recreation of the visual stunt when the front of a house falls onto…
