Hunger (1966) review

An exceptionally strange writer (Per Oscarsson), who refuses to do manual labor or eat much, just wanders around Oslo all day, trying to sleep on benches, annoying the police and following around a woman he calls "Ylajali" (Gunnel Lindblom).  I read the Knut Hamsun novel just a year ago, and while it is consistently engaging and perceptive, this adaptation is tedious and entirely too dry - the book investigates the warped psyche of its "protagonist" with greater clarity and nuance (which should come as no surprise).  Instead of watching this, I strongly suggest reading the source (along with The Growth of the Soil): Hamsun was uniquely talented (he won the Nobel Prize for Literature) ... but you have to overlook his personal life and racist views (he wrote a glowing obituary to Adolf Hitler, which could have been an intentional provocation to the people of Norway ... or because he was mentally ill).