Jude (Adam Driver) is a young engineer living in NYC. He becomes trapped in the bathroom of a Chinese restaurant w/ Mina (Alba Rohrwacher), who works at the Italian embassy. Despite this awkward first encounter, Jude and Mina begin a relationship and move in together. Some time later, Mina wakes to a phone call from her employer; she will be relocated to her native Italy in 2 mos. Mina soon discovers she is pregnant. Jude and Mina are married at a beachside cafe on Coney Island. A fortune teller labels her baby as an “Indigo child. Mina believes that her son is needs to be “protected” from doctors, meat, and sunlight. Her extreme actions create intense worries for Jude, as well as his mother (Roberta Maxwell).

This indie film is based on the novel Il Bambino Indaco (The Indigo Child) by Marco Franzoso. It was directed by Saverio Costanzo; he worked a handful of indies, then on the Italian version of the TV show In Treatment (2013-2016). Most recently, he directed eps of My Brilliant Friend (2018-2020). Hungry Hearts was selected to compete for the Golden Lion at the 71st Venice International Film Festival; Driver and Rohrwacher won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor and Best Actress respectively. It was also screened in the Special Presentations section of the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). When the credits rolled, I learned that the Production Manager was one of my former classmates from grad school (Fordham)! Rashi DeStefano grew up in Brooklyn (her father is Italian, her mother is Indian), was a Teaching Fellow at a public HS in Manhattan (while in grad school), but then studied filmmaking.

[1] With the current uproar of vaccinations, there is certainly a modern day link to the story line of mother’s instincts vs. doctor’s orders.

[2] A psychological drama – tense at times, perhaps – but it really doesn’t have all that many thrills.

[3] The idea of having the diet of a child being the source of conflict between a couple is unique in cinema, but a very real concern. …the duo’s impeccable performances do their characters justice and it’s often heartbreaking.

[4] It has a good storyline and some incredibly emotional scenes. Adam Driver does an amazing job portraying Jude- a father who is conflicted between pleasing his wife and saving his son- and I believe his performance makes the movie. However, throughout the film, the camera is inconsistent and shaky.

-Excerpts from IMDB reviews