This film is like many, many indie films, in that it follows some desperate separate lives as they wrestle with their addictive behaviors and regrets. As this kind of film, Hungry Ghosts is good. That's my review.
I've seen a zillion films like this. Just last week I watched Powder Blue with Ray Liotta and Jessca Biel, same kind of thing. Or go see 13 Moons with Steve Buscemi. The Life Before This with Catherine O'Hara and Joe Pantoliano. Shrink with Kevin Spacey. Dancing at the Blue Iguana with Sanda Oh. Crash, that piece of garbage movie that was so popular 6 years ago, was this kind of movie but with an inexplicably larger budget. The thing about movies like this is that if you've seen them you know what they are and what to expect. In the first minute, you know what you're dealing with. Desperate people, aimless lives, some intersections, some deaths, no story structure, nothing much is going to happen. You know this in the first minute. If you have complaints after that you're being ridiculous. It's like complaining about your face hurting after you smash your head against a cement wall. It's like complaining about the wall.
