the hummingbird movie review

Review: The Hummingbird

by  Vittoria Scarpa

14/10/2022 - Francesca Archibugi adapts Sandro Veronesi’s bestseller, demanding a little extra effort from viewers to follow the free flow of memories depicted, but ultimately guaranteeing an emotional impact

A hummingbird is a tiny creature which invests all of its energy into staying right where it is, and this is the exact approach adopted by Marco Carrera, the protagonist of Francesca Archibugi ’s new film The Hummingbird   [ + see also: trailer interview: Benedetta Porcaroli film profile ] , which is based upon Sandro Veronesi ’s bestselling novel of the same name, which itself won the 2020 Strega Prize and has since been translated into 25 languages. It’s a story spanning sixty years, in which the joys, pain and neuroses of a middle-class family like any other are interwoven with the evolution of an absolute and extraordinary love which extends across three generations. And in which holding everything together and standing strong is essential, even when faced with the unbearable.

Written by the director, in league with Laura Paolucci and Francesco Piccolo , The Hummingbird opened the 17th Rome Film Fest after world premiering in Toronto, and it’s one of those solidly structured melodramas which takes up the tricky challenge of depicting a free flow of memories, jumping from one time period to another and between different ages and times of life. The film opens onto a summery picture of a beautiful villa by the sea where the Carrera family are holidaying. The father and mother ( Sergio Albelli and Laura Morante ) of the family are getting ready to go out for dinner with friends, while their three twenty-something children, Marco, Giacomo and Irene ( Francesco Centorame, Niccolò Profeti and Fotinì Peluso ) are gearing up to do different things with their evening: Giacomo will collapse on the sofa, plying himself with alcohol, Marco will secretly meet the French girl whom he and his brother are mad for (Luisa, played by Elisa Fossati ) and Irene, who’s struggling with her mental health, will listen to music with her headphones clamped over her ears. But that very night, a tragedy unfolds, sealing these various characters’ fates.

Several years later, a psychologist (played by Nanni Moretti ) walks into the medical practice where Marco works (whose adult incarnation borrows the features of Pierfrancesco Favino ), asking him endless questions about he and Luisa (whose adult version is played by Bérénice Bejo ). The psychologist is actually treating Marco’s current wife, Marina ( Kasia Smutniak ), who has serious psychological issues and is totally out of control, giving her doctor good reason to believe that Marco is in danger. To begin with, the latter denies having a relationship with his old flame, before eventually confessing. From this point on, the puzzle pieces slowly come together, the number of characters multiplies, and events start to unfold in different time periods, between Rome, Paris and Tuscany. The houses and places remain more or less the same, only the faces, hairstyles and clothes change. One moment, a character moves around in a certain environment, the next moment, we see him/her in that same setting, but thirty years later.

Marco is a good man, he puts others first, even to the point of not living to the full the love which has accompanied him all his life. Or maybe, in so doing, he believes he’ll this love eternal. Other pain and losses rock his existence, but these are the cards he’s been dealt; he accepts this and wouldn’t swap his life for another. Pierfrancesco Favino once again plays an unusual male figure - a sensitive, reassuring and spiritual man - with real elegance. A little extra effort is required on the part of the audience in order to navigate the story’s temporal shifts and to draw links between events. But given the intensity of its story and directorial and acting approach, an emotional impact is definitely guaranteed.

Il colibrì is an Italian-French co-production, produced by Fandango and RAI Cinema and co-produced by Les Films des Tournelles - Orange Studio . International sales are entrusted to Fandango Sales .

(Translated from Italian)

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more about: The Hummingbird

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‘The Hummingbird’: Toronto Review

By Allan Hunter 2022-09-17T03:10:00+01:00

A man’s life is revealed in non-linear fashion in Francesca Archibugi’s feather-light adaptation of Sandro Veronesi’s novel

‘The Hummingbird’

Dir: Francesca Archibugi. Italy, France. 2022. 126mins

Despite its many trials and sorrows, life remains a wonderful privilege in The Hummingbird ( Il Colbiri ). Francesca Archibugi’s adaptation of Sandro Veronesi’s 2019 novel flits back and forth through one man’s existence, seeking to understand the relationships and incidents that marked him the most. The catalogue of heartbreak, loss, misunderstandings and missed opportunities results in a sentimental but strangely insubstantial melodrama. An older demographic may respond to its plush elegance and attractive locations, while the strong cast will be a bonus in some European territories.

The fragmentary nature of the storytelling and the constant shuffling of time makes it difficult to feel an emotional connection

The life of Marco Carrera, played by Pierfrancesco Favino, is the focus of The Hummingbird . It is almost a cradle to grave sweep as we visit key moments from his childhood, adolescence and adult years. A haunting memory can intrude at any time. Events in the present trigger a reflection on the past. Opening a door is all it takes to travel through time in a film that successfully sustains its non-linear approach.

Any initial confusion quickly fades as we are introduced to the young Marco Carrera (Francesco Centorame, a dead ringer for Favino) and his family in their sumptuous holiday home perched above an inviting beach they are obliged to share with their close neighbours. His architect mother Letizia (Laura Morante) despises the other family with their maidservant and airs. “The leftovers of a world that’s about to disappear, thank God,“ she declares. Marco has fallen for the daughter Luisa (Berenice Bejo) and the couple will remain star-crossed throughout their lives, with the object of his desire always the right woman at the wrong time.

A diminutive figure as boy, Marco is nicknamed the Hummingbird and given growth hormones to help his development. The film becomes about the moments that change everything and the resilience that allows an ordinary man like Marco to face another day. It is the suicide of Marco’s older sister that becomes a landmark in shaping his life and separating him from Luisa. Confronting mental illness is a recurring theme as Marco matures, becoming a father and a grandfather. 

The Hummingbird is a very polished, well-heeled production that unfolds in luxury hotels and grand apartments, and takes in the twinkling lights of nighttime Paris and the lapping waters of the Tuscan coast. It is very easy on the eye and the soundtrack choices add to the plaintivel pull of the material; a Billie Holiday version of ’I’ll Be Seeing You’ is used repeatedly, as is The Clash’s ’London Calling’.

It is the fragmentary nature of the storytelling and the constant shuffling of time that makes it difficult to feel an emotional connection to the tragic deaths, lucky escapes, separations and revelations that Marco experiences. He is also a very diffident, mild-mannered figure whose passivity sometimes makes him hard to read. Favino’s measured, unfussy performance invests Marco with the timid air of a man who would never wish to give offence or cause upset. His impulsive decision to declare his love and marry air stewardess Marina (Kasia Smutniak) seems entirely out of keeping with his character – although he does discover a talent for gambling later in life. 

Marco is firmly established as a bewildered observer of his own life but many of the other characters are more sketchy. Nanni Moretti plays psychoanalyst Daniele Carradori who initially exists purely for exposition. His first meeting with Marco includes a volley of questions handily filling in the viewer on all the missing details of his life. Marco’s wife Marina seems to only operate in the realms of hysteria. Her restless mind and volatility result in tantrums, paranoia and betrayal. Bejo’s Luisa is friendly and sympathetic but somehow always distant. There is a heavy reliance on prosthetics and thinning hair to create the illusion of ageing for many of the performers.

Full of incident and emotion, The Hummingbird still only skims across the surface of Marco’s life. In the end this is an adaptation of a novel that just feels too novelettish.

Production companies: Fandango, RAI Cinema, Les Films des Tournelles, Orange Studio

International sales: Fandango Sales.  [email protected]

Producer: Domenica Procacci

Screenplay: Laura Paolucci, Francesca Archibugi, Francesco Piccolo

Cinematography: Luca Bigazzi

Production design: Alessandro Vannucci

Editing: Esmeralda Calabria

Music: Battista Lena

Main cast: Pierfrancesco Favino, Berenice Bejo, Nanni Moretti, Laura Morante, Kasia Smutniak.

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Where to watch

Hummingbird.

Directed by Steven Knight

All roads don't lead to salvation.

Homeless and on the run from a military court martial, a damaged ex-special forces soldier navigating London's criminal underworld seizes an opportunity to assume another man's identity, transforming into an avenging angel in the process.

Jason Statham Agata Buzek Vicky McClure Benedict Wong Ger Ryan Youssef Kerkour Anthony Morris Victoria Bewick Christian Brassington Danny Webb Sang Lui Bruce Wang David Bradley Siobhan Hewlett Steven Beard John Killoran Lillie Buttery Adam Skeats Macey Chipping Jason Wong Emaa Hussen Ed Gaughan Ian Pirie Sheng-Chien Tsai Josef Altin Christopher Logan Jeff Mirza Emily Lue-Fong Michelle Wen Lee Show All… Joseph Long Joe Kallis Anna Maria Everett Harry Taurasi Rosemary Annabella Andrew Ellis James Bye Chris Streeks Bahaa Nasser Aklima Begum Tony Hoy Lee Nicholas Harris Senem Temiz Paul Blackwell Joanna Finata

Director Director

Steven Knight

Producers Producers

Guy Heeley Paul Webster Andrew Warren Alison Banks

Writer Writer

Casting casting.

Leo Davis Lissy Holm

Editor Editor

Valerio Bonelli

Cinematography Cinematography

Chris Menges

Assistant Directors Asst. Directors

Martin Harrison Chris Stoaling

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Stuart Ford Brian Kavanaugh-Jones Steven Squillante Deepak Nayar Joe Wright

Lighting Lighting

Lee Walters

Camera Operators Camera Operators

Chris Menges Julian Morson

Additional Photography Add. Photography

Gerry Vasbenter

Production Design Production Design

Michael Carlin

Art Direction Art Direction

Stuart Kearns

Set Decoration Set Decoration

Claire Nia Richards

Visual Effects Visual Effects

Stephen Coren

Stunts Stunts

Tom Struthers John Street James Embree Daniel Naprous Bradley Farmer Brian Sonny Nichols David Garrick Leonard Woodcock

Composer Composer

Dario Marianelli

Sound Sound

John Casali Ian Wilson Andy Shelley

Costume Design Costume Design

Louise Stjernsward

Makeup Makeup

Paul Pattison Sarah Downes Alexandra Joyce

Hairstyling Hairstyling

Paul Pattison

Lionsgate Shoebox Films IM Global

Releases by Date

Theatrical limited, 28 jun 2013, 07 may 2013, 09 may 2013, 10 may 2013, 15 may 2013, 12 jun 2013, 14 jun 2013, 21 jun 2013, 27 jun 2013, 10 jul 2013, 11 jul 2013, 29 nov 2013, 23 may 2014, 07 jun 2014, 24 sep 2013, 25 sep 2013, 24 oct 2013, 22 mar 2018, releases by country.

• Physical MA15+ DVD release
• Theatrical U
• Theatrical 16
• Physical 16 DVD
• Theatrical 15A
• Theatrical PG12
• Theatrical N-16

Netherlands

Philippines.

• Theatrical 12+
• Physical 15 DVD & Blu-ray release
• Theatrical 15
• Theatrical limited R
• Physical R DVD, Blu-ray

100 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★½ 10

Starring: The Bold, Bald, Gruff Action Man Jason Statham

Jason Statham tries his hand at a different kind of thriller, one that appears to focus less on action and more on the somber, contemplative piece à la You Were Never Really Here , yet it is by no means as fantastic or effective.

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Review by matt lynch ★★★½ 1

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Not exactly your typical action flick starring Jason Statham, Hummingbird is an ambitious movie that tries to offer both style and substance, neglecting entertainment as a result. Written and directed by Steven Knight, the man behind the script for Eastern Promises , Hummingbird's weakness can be found in the writing department (of all places even though Knight has proved his talent before) and in its translation to the screen. There are themes of faith, its place in a cruel world of long lost innocence replete with corruption where living is either a way of making profit or a constant struggle for survival, while war and abuse break the spirit and toss it on the streets. There's substance, but it's very bluntly…

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It wants to be a serious crime drama and a commentary on…

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I'm such an Jason Statham apologist, I can defend THE MECHANIC. I can defend PARKER. I can even kind of defend KILLER ELITE.

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Review by Travis Lytle ★★½

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This ain't good

Review by Noah Thompson ★★½

I drink to weaken the machine they made.

What is it with films having intriguing titles that are then tossed aside to have some more "marketable" bullshit name? If anything, that is maybe representative of Hummingbird , or Redemption , as a whole. I can tell that there is some kind of interesting film here. It's shot well, I like a lot of the lighting, and Jason Statham makes for a compelling lead in an action/drama. Stories of redemption after a horrible act are stories that we see pretty often in fiction, especially these thriller types of features, and that's for a reason. When they're done well, they can leave real impact. This just doesn't. Its pacing is all over the place,…

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The hummingbird project.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 0 Reviews
• Kids Say 1 Review

Common Sense Media Review

Tech-caper story has salty language but no real point.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that The Hummingbird Project is a (fictional) story about an attempt to beat the stock market by installing a faster, more than 1,000-mile-long fiber optic cable. Language is the biggest issue, with fairly frequent use of both "f--k" and "s--t." A character is diagnosed with stomach…

Why Age 15+?

Frequent, strong language, with many uses of "f--k" and "s--t," plus "motherf---

Cigarette smoking. Social drinking. Beers with lunch, drinks at dinner, etc.

Spoken story about being hit in face with pipe and knocked unconscious. A charac

Character goes to a massage parlor and asks for a legitimate massage (unspoken r

Any Positive Content?

If anyone had learned any lessons in the movie, there might have been some kind

Characters set out to do something quasi-illegal and don't really seem to benefi

Frequent, strong language, with many uses of "f--k" and "s--t," plus "motherf----r," "bulls--t," "pendejo," "hell," and "stupid."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Violence & Scariness

Spoken story about being hit in face with pipe and knocked unconscious. A character is diagnosed with stomach cancer. Hospital scenes, etc. Urinating blood. Shouting and arguing. Characters arrested. Chainsaw wielded in semi-dangerous way.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Character goes to a massage parlor and asks for a legitimate massage (unspoken reference to an erotic massage).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

If anyone had learned any lessons in the movie, there might have been some kind of message to take away, but it's really "just a bunch of stuff that happened." No one succeeds, no one fails. In final scene, there appears to be some remorse, but it's too little, too late.

Positive Role Models

Characters set out to do something quasi-illegal and don't really seem to benefit or learn from their actions. Aside from being smart and perhaps assertive, they aren't particularly admirable.

Parents need to know that The Hummingbird Project is a (fictional) story about an attempt to beat the stock market by installing a faster, more than 1,000-mile-long fiber optic cable. Language is the biggest issue, with fairly frequent use of both "f--k" and "s--t." A character is diagnosed with stomach cancer; some scenes take place in a hospital, and one shows the character urinating blood. There's a spoken description of an injury, several scenes of shouting and arguing, a character getting arrested, and a character wielding a chainsaw. Someone goes to a massage parlor and asks for a "legitimate" massage, as opposed to an "erotic" one. Cigarette smoking is shown, as well as social drinking (beer at lunch, drinks at dinner, etc.). Unfortunately, the film feels like a letdown, but it's appropriate for mature teens and adults. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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What's the Story?

In THE HUMMINGBIRD PROJECT, fast-talking Vincent Zaleski ( Jesse Eisenberg ) has a million-dollar idea. He convinces his computer genius cousin, Anton ( Alexander Skarsgard ), that they should both quit their jobs at a powerful high-tech firm run by the formidable Eva Torres ( Salma Hayek ) to try to make the idea happen. And what is that idea? Nothing short of running a fiber optic cable underground, straight from Kansas to Wall Street, so that they can have stock market information a millisecond early and make a fortune. Obstacles quickly start popping up, including the challenges of drilling through a mountain and buying land from an Amish family. Meanwhile, Anton hasn't quite cracked the problem of subtracting the all-important millisecond from the code. Perhaps worse, Ms. Torres is not about to sit back and watch her former employees eat up her profits.

Is It Any Good?

Though it certainly looks and sounds like fun, this comedy goes through a great many plot mechanics while hardly scratching the surface of its characters -- and without ever coming to a point. Written and directed by Kim Nguyen (of the Best Foreign Language Oscar nominee War Witch ), The Hummingbird Project initially feels like it's going to have the energetic cleverness and complexity of something like The Social Network or The Big Short . It feels like it ought to be "based on a true story," but it's actually not.

Despite Vincent's obvious similarities to Eisenberg's superb portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg, The Hummingbird Project fails to discover what makes its main character tick, other than a brief story about his childhood. (A cancer-related subplot feels tacked-on.) Anton, meanwhile, is a broadly characterized "socially awkward genius" type, and Ms. Torres is just an angry, barking villainess. The strangest thing of all is that in the end, the characters neither win nor lose. This is a story with no real ending and no purpose; it doesn't leave viewers with much of an impression. The ending that Nguyen does choose, which involves an Amish farm, might have meant something if the movie had been pared down and zoomed in on that particular episode. But as it stands, it feels like a hollow gesture.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about The Hummingbird Project 's violence . How does the movie build tension mainly through the use of tense words, rather than actual violence? What's the impact of media violence on kids?

Are any of these characters role models ? What is there to admire about them? Can they be admired for their methods, even if their motives aren't noble?

Did the movie seem like a true story? Do you think it could have happened? How?

What did you learn about technology from the movie? What are positive uses of technology vs. more questionable ones?

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 15, 2019
• On DVD or streaming : June 25, 2019
• Cast : Jesse Eisenberg , Alexander Skarsgard , Salma Hayek
• Director : Kim Nguyen
• Inclusion Information : Asian directors, Female actors, Latino actors, Middle Eastern/North African actors
• Studio : The Orchard
• Genre : Comedy
• Run time : 111 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : language throughout
• Last updated : December 4, 2022

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The Hummingbird

The Hummingbird: Release Date, Trailer, Songs, Cast

• Language Italian
• Dubbed In French
• Genre Drama
• Duration 2h 6min
• Cast Pierfrancesco Favino, Kasia Smutniak, Bérénice Bejo, Nanni Moretti, Laura Morante, Sergio Albelli, Massimo Ceccherini, Alessandro Tedeschi, Benedetta Porcaroli
• Director Francesca Archibugi
• Writer Francesca Archibugi, Laura Paolucci, Francesco Piccolo
• Cinematography Luca Bigazzi
• Music Battista Lena
• Producer Laura Paolucci, Domenico Procacci
• Production Fandango, Les Films des Tournelles, Rai Cinema

About The Hummingbird Movie

Depicts the life of Marco Carrera (Pierfrancesco Favino), a male protagonist, from childhood through adulthood to his final years, who becomes a hero by always offering shelter from life’s inevitable tempests and devotes all his energy to staying fixed in one place. Based on the novel by Sandro Veronesi.

The Hummingbird Movie Cast, Release Date, Trailer, Songs and Ratings

The Hummingbird Movie Trailer

The hummingbird photos.

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The Hummingbird Project Ending, Explained

‘The Hummingbird Project’ is a Canadian-Belgian drama thriller film that combines finance and tech for an extravagant undertaking. At its core, it is the story of exactly how far people are willing to go to achieve their dreams. However, the narrative itself is quite unique. Starring Jesse Eisenberg , Alexander Skarsgård,  Salma Hayek , and Michael Mando in leading roles, the movie has been written and directed by Kim Nguyen. So, if you wish to understand the ending of the film, then you’re at the right place. SPOILERS AHEAD!

The Hummingbird Project Plot Synopsis  

Vincent and Anton Zaleski are cousins who work under Eva Torres on Wall Street. But after Vincent is able to secure funding from Bryan Taylor for a project that facilitates quicker data transmission timings, he convinces Anton to leave the firm and join forces with him. After all, the plan is to construct a tunnel that consists of a 4-inch fiber optic cable from the Kansas Electronic Exchange to the servers of the New York Stock Exchange in New Jersey.

If they’re able to bring down the time by just one millisecond, they can beat the market and reap huge profits. While Vincent focuses on the business aspect, Anton is the coder responsible for bringing the time down to 16 milliseconds. Along with their contractor, Mark Vega, the cousins embark on this journey to make their dreams come true.

The Hummingbird Project Ending  

Just as things seem bleak, Anton is able to finally figure out how to decrease the time by 1 millisecond. But Eva won’t let them get ahead of the game so easily, and so she presses charges against Anton. The genius coder is arrested by the FBI for stock market fraud. He then calls Vincent from jail to inform him about what just happened. While working on the tough terrain, the construction team comes across a message pointing toward a tower. 

This is Eva’s way of letting Vincent know that her team has managed to get the upper hand. After all, she found a university student who helped the firm construct microwave towers that work as fast as 11 milliseconds. Naturally, this agitates Vincent, who starts heading towards the tower with a chainsaw while repeatedly saying that he’s going to cut it down. A verbal altercation between Mark and Vincent takes place, followed by the latter passing out.

Vincent wakes up in the ambulance and asks for his phone. Before he is admitted to the hospital, he buys insurance for his project, knowing full well that he has failed. He also asks Mark to get Anton out of jail, but the other Zaleski cousin still has one last trick up his sleeve. He knows about the bug in Eva’s system and uses it to slow down her network to 20 milliseconds. She then visits Anton in jail, who is able to secure his freedom after she agrees to drop the charges in exchange for the solution.

Bryan visits Vincent in the hospital and says that he may just end up losing his company because he trusted the latter. Following this, the cancer patient is back at home. Mark finally completed the project, and over a video call, he showed Vincent that they were actually able to do better than their original goal. The speed, now, is 15.73 milliseconds. But this holds significance mostly for Vincent. It has no real-life application anymore, as Eva has already cornered the market.

During a conversation with Anton, Vincent says that the insurance has refused to pay them. However, the former has an idea that uses neutrino messaging to reduce the time to 9 milliseconds. It is a more sturdy technology as well since it can penetrate through various terrains and objects. They seemingly joke about being able to buy all of Wall Street and then burn it down.

In the end, they go to the Amish farm to apologize to the village leader. It starts raining, and Vincent helps the other people put the sacks into the barn. He tells the Amish leader that they have removed the pipe from under the community’s land. While waiting for the rain to subside, the cousins take shelter in the barn. Vincent ponders over how he would process the existence of 16 milliseconds, and Anton replies by saying that Vincent’s life would still feel as long as that of a man who has lived for 100 years.

How Feasible is The Neutrino Messaging Technology?

For a game where every millisecond counts, Anton definitely comes up with a great idea. If they use neutrino messaging for their purposes, the transmission speed becomes as fast as 9 milliseconds! On paper, it definitely sounds grand – these tiny particles can pierce through all sorts of landscapes and overcome most issues that traditional communication methods face. Given how competitive everyone in the financial industry (in the movie) is, how has someone else not implemented this idea already?

We think we can solve this mystery. Back in 2012, a group of researchers at the University of Rochester and North Carolina State University collaborated to transmit a message using neutrinos. In fact, the very information they sent was the word “neutrino.” This experiment holds some significance for us. Firstly, it proved that this technology could be viable in the future as and when scientific advancements happen. Moreover, it showed us that we still have a long way to go before we can impart huge amounts of data using this method.

Dan Stancil, the electrical engineer who also headed the study, opened up about the possibilities of the technology. He said, “In principle, you could have straight-line communication right through the center of the Earth, without satellites or cables. I can imagine there could be certain strategic situations where that could be very valuable.” Clearly, Anton’s idea is not viable presently. However, we would still argue that he is a visionary in his field.

The Irony of The Title

‘The Hummingbird Project’ is an appropriate title for the movie when you consider the subtle yet decipherable statements it makes on human greed. We learn that it only takes 16 milliseconds for a Hummingbird to flap its wings once! Plus, it can also fly backward. This small fraction of time essentially does wonders for this particular species. Au contraire, 16 milliseconds, is the speed that the Zaleski brothers need in order to make their venture successful.

To accomplish this goal, Vincent stops at nothing. He even finds a way to penetrate through the protected Appalachian trial just so that the tunnel can be built. If Vincent’s wings can “flap” as fast as the Hummingbird’s, he has the potential to earn millions of dollars. But as the movie progresses, we learn that he has lost his career, credibility, and health in pursuit of a dream motivated simply by dollar signs. Although he tries to be as maneuverable as the bird, this is clearly not his forte.

Read More: Is The Hummingbird Project a True Story?

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The Hummingbird Project Reviews

Eternally relevant and immediately obsolete.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 15, 2021

Sets its sights beyond the story of Wall Street intrigue to focus on something much bigger, the effects of global capitalism.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 4, 2021

The Hummingbird Project asks the question but never gives a satisfying answer.

Full Review | Jan 7, 2021

The film's great dramatic question, as to whether Vincent and Anton will achieve their aim, simply does not arouse compelling interest.

Full Review | Dec 4, 2020

However, it's Alexander Skarsgard that shows a range we haven't seem from him before as Anton, a troubled genius whose intellectual gifts end up being more of a curse than a blessing.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Nov 14, 2020

The Hummingbird Project is a good film, but it's never as meaningful or as successful as it wants to be.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.0/4.0 | Sep 11, 2020

I'm not really sure what the moral of this story is, but I did enjoy the chance to watch these incredible performers really inhabit these roles.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jul 21, 2020

What might have made for either a thrilling, high-stakes drama or, at the very least, an intelligent comedy, ends up wildly uneven.

Full Review | Mar 13, 2020

In a film so dull it would make the flap of a hummingbird's wing feel liked it lasted for eternity, a stellar cast is squandered on shallow characters and a what-were-they-thinking script.

Full Review | Oct 2, 2019

It is [Jesse] Eisenberg's best work in years.

Full Review | Jul 10, 2019

Although sometimes it gets bogged down in the details of drilling, The Hummingbird Project extracts enough entertainment value from an unpromising premise, greatly helped by Jesse Eisenberg finding the humanity in his hustler.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 17, 2019

This has to go down as one of the nicest surprises of early summer - clever, ambitious and beautifully acted by Jesse Eisenberg and Alexander Skarsgård, who surely gives one of the best performances of his career.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 17, 2019

But, while it falls some way below the standards set by Nguyen's Oscar-nominated child-soldier saga, War Witch (2012), this has a cockeyed conviction that keeps you watching.

Part thriller, part family drama, part satirical commentary on the way that the pursuit of wealth is a cultural cancer that taints everything it touches, The Hummingbird Project is no less compelling for its odd mishmash of components.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 16, 2019

It sounds deeply unappetizing, but in fact, it's really enjoyable to watch. It's about obsession in a way I really like...

Full Review | Jun 14, 2019

It's typical of a movie, written and directed by the Canadian film-maker Kim Nguyen, that hits all the right genre beats while consistently reaching for something more.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 14, 2019

An unusual film, brought arrestingly to life...

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 14, 2019

I found the film funny, twisty and exciting enough to keep me watching, eager to find out of their mad caper would work in time.

It's the kind of verbose corporate parable David Mamet would sit down to write after a heavy night on the sauce.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Jun 13, 2019

It may be a modest indie film, but it deserves a broad audience. Highly recommended.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 13, 2019

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

The Hummingbird

The life of male protagonist from the 1970s to the near future and the myriad relationships that have criss-crossed its path along the way. The life of male protagonist from the 1970s to the near future and the myriad relationships that have criss-crossed its path along the way. The life of male protagonist from the 1970s to the near future and the myriad relationships that have criss-crossed its path along the way.

• Francesca Archibugi
• Sandro Veronesi
• Laura Paolucci
• Pierfrancesco Favino
• Nanni Moretti
• Kasia Smutniak
• 5 User reviews
• 29 Critic reviews
• 2 wins & 9 nominations

Top cast 29

• Marco Carrera

• Daniele Carradori

• Marina Molitor

• Luisa Lattes

• Letizia Carrera

• Probo Carrera

• Irene Carrera

• Giacomo Carrera

• Adele Carrera

• Duccio Chilleri

• Madre di Luisa
• Duccio Chilleri ragazzo
• Giacomo Carrera ragazzo
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• Luigi Dami Tamburini

• Marco Carrera ragazzo

• Miraijin ragazza
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Did you know

• Trivia Original literary work: "Il colibri", novel by Sandro Veronesi, published by La Nave di Teseo, Milan, 24-10-2019, ISBN: 978-88-346-0047-4.

Marina Molitor : Yes I lied to you but you did worse, you believed me.

• Soundtracks Caro amore lontanissimo Written by Sergio Endrigo and Riccardo Sinigallia Performed by Marco Mengoni

User reviews 5

• richard-1787
• Aug 26, 2023
• How long is The Hummingbird? Powered by Alexa
• October 14, 2022 (Italy)
• Monte Argentario, Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy
• Les Films des Tournelles
• Orange Studio
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• €8,400,000 (estimated)

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• Runtime 2 hours 6 minutes

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‘Lover of Men’ Review: The Heart of President Lincoln

Subtitled “The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln,” the film gathers an array of historians to argue that Lincoln had romantic relationships with men.

• Share full article

By Nicolas Rapold

About a century ago, the poet and biographer Carl Sandburg remarked upon the “streaks of lavender” in Abraham Lincoln and a Southern gentleman named Joshua Speed. Aspiring beyond suggestion, Shaun Peterson’s “Lover of Men” mobilizes an impressive array of historians to argue that Lincoln had romantic relationships with men that affected his life deeply.

Four men are at the heart of Peterson’s playfully titled film, most prominently Speed, who bunked with Lincoln for four years in Springfield, Ill., and mentored the lawyer and budding politician.

Lincoln’s sleeping arrangements recur as evidence in the film, like how he shared the presidential bed with his bodyguard, David Derickson, when his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, was away. (Lincoln also bonded with Billy Greene, whom he met at a general store early in his career, and Elmer E. Ellsworth, who clerked in his law office and later died a Union war hero.)

Suggestive phrases in letters to, from and about Lincoln reflect the ardor and closeness in these relationships, and his grief upon their dissolution. Peterson also floods the film with re-enactments to illustrate Lincoln’s time with Speed and others. There is value in imagining this etched-in-granite statesman in emotionally vulnerable private moments, but the scenes, sometimes in slow-motion, are distractingly hokey and undermine the movie.

The documentary tends to linger on some assertions about sexuality in Lincoln’s era while papering over others. But the general effort of bringing to light (and potentially to history books) an underrepresented part of American experience remains vital beyond defining Lincoln’s identity.

Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 42 minutes. In theaters.

Revenge is a dish best served cold, and the revenge dished up in “The Wasp” has been in the freezer for 15 years. The revenge is so cold that it’s camouflaged as something else. The film leads you to think it’s about one thing, but what we are watching is not, actually, what we think it is. The script is an airtight lair.

Based on a play by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm (who adapted it for the screen), “The Wasp” wears its theatrical origins on its sleeve. The action is “opened up,” but only slightly. There are just two main characters, and everything important takes place in one location. The film is broken up into two major scenes which require a lot from the two actors. The character arcs are extreme. Naomie Harris and Natalie Dormer give exhilarating performances, singly and together, but mostly together. The actors’ work is a testament to the script, but it’s also a testament to director Guillem Morales, who treats this claustrophobic subject matter in an expansive way, pushing outwards and downwards to give the characters space. It’s like the bottom drops out. The trailer doesn’t give much away. What happens is shocking, but it makes perfect horrible sense once the facts are revealed. 

Heather (Harris) lives in a beautiful townhouse with her husband (Dominic Allburn), who is rarely home, and he’s irritable and rude when he is. He stays out till all hours of the night without a word of explanation. Heather suspects something is going on. A fertility app on her phone buzzes notifications at her, a reminder that her marriage is pretty much dead. She is already on edge because wasps are in her kitchen, buzzing around, the sound infiltrating her peace of mind. There’s a nest somewhere; she knows it. She decides to take matters into her own hands, in more ways than one. Heather thinks back to a traumatic event in childhood, when she witnessed her friend Carla kill a wounded pigeon with a rock. Heather hasn’t spoken to Carla in years, but she figures anyone who could do that could also probably murder her husband, no problem. She reaches out to Carla (Dormer), now pregnant for the fourth time, working at a supermarket, and struggling financially. The two haven’t spoken since grade school.

Carla wants nothing to do with it, but the money Heather offers is persuasive. Heather seems helpless and eager-to-please, maybe even a little intimidated by the rough street-smart Carla. Carla is in dire straits and thinks Heather is a naive silly woman living in a dream-world of privilege. Heather’s ideas for the murder of her husband are ridiculous, Carla thinks. At one point, Heather says, un-ironically, “I want to get rid of this man but I want to make sure every other area of my life remains unaffected.” Is this woman even for real? Carla takes charge. Carla is a formidable figure, in her puffy jacket and big pregnant belly, stalking ahead of Heather at such a pace Heather has to run to keep up. Heather is immaculate and tailored, Carla is not, but it’s very clear who is in charge.

“We’re so different,” Heather says to Carla. Carla squints at her, asking, “Are we?”

Some of the symbolism—the wasps, for one—felt heavy-handed at first, or, at the very least, too obvious. The film opens with Heather’s wasp obsession, and the set-up was over-determined (exacerbated by the framed portraits of horrifying spiders lining the hallway of Heather’s townhouse). The portraits loom over the action unfolding in the room beyond, reminding us of what is going on: the women are weaving a web for Simon. They hope they will not be caught in their own web. Carla pokes holes in Heather’s plan. There’s a class element in all of this. Heather is ingratiating with Carla and there’s condescension there, an assumption that of course the working-class Carla would know about “such things”. Heather will defer to her “expertise”. Each character condescends to the other. Once the second major scene begins, the entire atmosphere has changed, and so, too, have the symbols. Suddenly the wasps, and the spiders on the wall, take on deeper connotations, revealing themselves in their totality.

The symbols have to do too much of the heavy lifting but keeping these symbols in operation—as an active force in the story—was an impressive feat, particularly how they transformed. As impressive as the script is, the film rides on Harris’ and Dormer’s performances. Harris, nominated for an Academy Award for her painful performance in “Moonlight,” shows dazzling range. Her Heather is wound up tight, her knee-jerk politeness covering up total chaos. There are moments when she looks at Carla, and her eager-to-please smile and guidance-counselor behavior are so inappropriate to the situation, it seems like a locked psych ward would be the best option for her. But Heather has a secret, and the secret is running the show. Harris is completely in charge of how and when we see that secret. A performance like this takes great control. Dormer is Harris’ equal, coming back at her with contempt, confusion, impatience.

Watching Harris and Dormer create this event together is why I love going to the movies. In that elegant, horrible townhouse, anything could happen. And anything does.

Sheila O'Malley

Sheila O’Malley received a BFA in Theatre from the University of Rhode Island and a Master’s in Acting from the Actors Studio MFA Program. Read her answers to our Movie Love Questionnaire here .

• Naomie Harris as Heather
• Natalie Dormer as Carla
• Dominic Allburn as Simon
• Jack Morris as Tel
• Leah Mondesir-Simmonds as Young Heather
• Rupert Holliday-Evans as Jim
• Guillem Morales
• Morgan Lloyd Malcolm

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The movie-stars-are-over era has been overstated. If audiences are now drawn to movies not for stars but for franchise concepts, I’m not sure how to fit the career of Timothée Chalamet into that; Emma Stone and Zendaya would also like a word. That said, when you watch George Clooney and Brad Pitt in “ Wolfs ,” a clever, airy, winningly light-fingered and debonair action comedy about two rival fixers who have to learn to work together, you’d be forgiven for describing the sensation you feel as movie-star nostalgia.

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“Wolfs” opens in a deluxe penthouse hotel suite in New York, where Margaret (Amy Ryan), a district attorney, is in a distraught panic. There’s a young man, seemingly dead, lying next to the bed in his underwear, with smashed glass all around him. What happened? She picked him up in the hotel bar, they came to the room, and he was jumping up and down on the bed when he accidentally fell and smashed through a glass table. File it under “shit happens.” To avoid a big mess, Margaret calls a number she has had in her contacts but has never used. It’s the number of a fixer, played by Clooney, who immediately starts telling her what to do on the phone, exuding the dry authority of … Michael Clayton.

Neither of the two men is ever named. Clooney’s character, referred to in the credits simply as “Margaret’s man,” is a figure of Swiss-watch precision and time-tested methods, all driven by the conviction that no one else can do what he does. But the arrival of Pitt, known only as “Pam’s man,” throws a monkey wrench into that. Clooney looks at Pitt as if he were a pretender, a mere amateur in the fixer game, but, in fact, both are experts at … well, fixing.

The spark plug of “Wolfs,” as written and directed by Jon Watts (who directed all three of the Tom Holland “Spider-Man” films), is the nonstop stream of hostility and one-upmanship that passes between Clooney and Pitt like something out of an acid screwball comedy. It’s not just that the two characters don’t like each other. Each is invested in his own superiority — the special finesse of his skills. And so their back-and-forth isn’t just about the putdowns. It’s a kind of lethal contest to see who has the most fixer zen.

Clooney and Pitt had this kind of chemistry before, in “Ocean’s Eleven,” where it was in the very detachment of their banter that they found a bond. In “Wolfs,” Clooney and Pitt revel in the crack timing, in the I-truly-do-not-like-you obscene banter, that makes even the most casual insult take wing. As the movie goes on, these two will learn to work together, but the film’s anti-grammatical title is saying that each one is a lone wolf. They have no desire to mesh like wolves . The joke, of course, is that from their stylish leather jackets to their secret Mr. Big to their reading glasses, they’re kind of the same man.

Clooney’s character knows a trick or two about how to hoist a body onto a hotel cart, and for a while, as the two take the elevator down to the parking garage, where they stow the body in the trunk of Clooney’s car, the movie is all gambits and procedure, sort of like an improvised “Ocean’s Duet.” But it pivots and turns into a different sort of movie (I feel compelled to issue a spoiler alert, though this happens fairly early on) after the corpse…refuses to lie still.

“Wolfs” turns into one of those buddy movies with a flaked-out wild card of a third wheel. Austin Abrams, from “Euphoria” and “The Walking Dead,” plays the aforementioned dude in his underwear, known only as “kid.” He turns out to be a likably jabbering space case, like Timothée Chalamet infused with the spirit of the young Sam Rockwell. (At one point he has to wear a dress as a shirt, which is very Chalamet.) The key complication is that the kid was carrying four bricks of heroin in his backpack worth $250,000. How did he get them? He was doing a friend a favor, but the bottom line is that the fixers need to find out where those drug parcels came from and return them.

Coming out of the first showing of “Wolfs” at the Venice Film Festival, a friend asked me if I tend to take a movie like this one, which will probably be streamed on Apple much more than it will be seen in movie theaters, and rate it on a made-for-streaming curve. The answer is no, though it’s a good question, and you certainly could rate it both ways. Next to the vast majority of made-for-streaming fodder, “Wolfs” looks the essence of a classy, witty, stylish entertainment. It looks downright old-fashioned (in a good way). But as a movie , which will indeed play in theaters, it is, in the end, a well-made throwaway, no more and no less. The buddy movie is always, on some level, a platonic love story, but in this case by the time Clooney and Pitt locate their bond, they’ve come close to erasing the premise of the movie: that the key to a fixer is that he can’t afford to have a heart. These two never lose their cool, but by the end you feel like they’ve put on sheep’s clothing.

Reviewed at Venice Film Festival (Out of competition), Sept. 1, 2024. MPA rating: R. Running time: 108 MIN.

• Production: A Columbia Pictures, Apple release of an Apple Original Films, Plan B, Freshman Year, Smokehouse Pictures production. Producers: Jon Watts, Dianne McGunigle, Grant Heslov, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner. Executive producer: Michael Beugg.
• Crew: Director, screenplay: Jon Watts. Camera: Larkin Seiple. Editor: Andrew Weisblum. Music: Theodore Shapiro.
• With: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, Pooma Jagannathan, Richard Kind, Zlatko Burić.

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