After the Hunt

Guadagnino is also on the form of his life, directing with assured style and structure, and offering a lovely closing device that asks us to relax, calm down and remember that it’s all just playtime.

Guadagnino’s film feels small and overwrought in comparison; satisfied to drag things out within the bubble of faux academia (and cinephilia, with a pointed nod in Woody Allen’s direction). But it does have its pleasures, specifically where the actors speak less and make us feel so much more in performance and action.

Centering around a stoic woman who elbowed her way to the top of her field in a world of men in tweed suits, only for it all to be put at risk, the plot has heavy shades of 2022’s “Tar,” which is a much better movie.

Affords Julia Roberts with her best part in years as a professor whose role in a burgeoning scandal threatens to expose her deep, dark (related) secrets. She’s not enough, however, to make this wannabe-conversation starter coherent, much less insightful.

As riveting as she is, Roberts ultimately is ill-served by a film so studiously cryptic that it ends up just frustrating. To be fair, there are several electric confrontations, distributed evenly enough to ensure that After the Hunt remains absorbing. But even so, this is a date movie to be used in relationship sabotage maneuvers.

He’s made a mystery with no curiosity, a cautionary tale with no good advice. It’s unclear if Guadagnino’s elites believe their moral arguments don’t apply to themselves or if they’re just stupid — or if the script makes them do stupid things to keep the audience off guard. Regardless, raise a glass of Pinot anytime someone says “This was a mistake.”

It takes a lot of hard work and the perfect alignment of movie stars to make something this god-awful.

Fascinating and frightening. It reminded me a little bit of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?’, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and a 1960’s domestic drama. Interesting exploration of the psychology of a delicate and manipulative millennial and the flawed personalities of three Generation X characters. The problem between the generations, summed up in words towards the end, ‘you won’, as if life is as meaningless as a game

An ideological slap. A film that provokes a contradictory sensation: it generates a kind of internal hatred and simultaneous satisfaction (at times). The work functions as a distorted mirror of contemporary society, exposing with harshness some of its most visible tensions and contradictions. A walk through the terrain of social critique, questioning progressive movements and mechanisms of imposition, from a traditional perspective that does not shy away from confronting topics such as identity and power structures. It delivers an indirect punch, highlighting the hypocrisy and double standards that can emanate from these currents, revealing the cracks they leave in society. Andrew Garfield and Julia Roberts are talented actors with versatility, yet they fail to fully convince here. They show flashes of strength, but I cannot completely immerse myself in the story through the characters they portray. That, in large part, is due to the script. There’s no denying it is a visually appealing film, but it ultimately feels distant and somewhat unengaging. I find myself drifting away from the story at times, partly due to Guadagnino’s direction. Even though the plot is potentially interesting to me, it fails to create an emotional bond, either from me to it or from it to me. The result is more contained anticipation than genuine connection. The soundtrack walks a fine line between success and discomfort, which I suppose is intentional given the critical tone of the film. At times it is almost maddening, making me mentally plead for the volume to be lowered. Yet it also serves as a coherent component within the movie’s aesthetic proposal. After the Hunt' is an exercise in provocation and reflection: it unsettles and fascinates simultaneously. It may not remain long in my memory—it’s one of those films I might forget. Still, it is inevitable that hours after watching it, the impression it leaves is not a gentle one.

Julia Roberts plays against her usual big-smile persona as a college professor with issues. Things get worse when her good friend, fellow teacher (Andrew Garflield) is accused of impropriety by a promising student (Ayo Edebiri). Being that this is set at Yale and they’re in the philosophy department, you can expect occasional theoretical discussions, including a debate about the expectations of today’s youth culture. Otherwise, director Luca Guadagnino’s assured hand allows the cast to create exceptional performances (and Chloë Sevigny gets a funky wig for her small part). On the other hand, the intellectual banter and sometimes rambling story dilutes the potential to make this as effective as it could have been. Instead, we have an earnest examination of ethics that makes this more an intellectual exercise than a riveting drama. NOTE: In an interesting homage to Woody Allen, the credits are black and white in his font style, because Guadagnino wanted to evoke the aesthetic of classic New York films while acknowledging the controversy surrounding Allen.

Not a thriller. Not psychological. Simply a sad yawnfest. Avoid. Skip. Pass.

In a movie with a title like “After the Hunt,” one would assume that the characters are indeed hunting for something, either literally or metaphorically. However, after watching this latest offering from filmmaker Luca Guadagnino, as near as I could tell, that missing element would most likely be the plot. Given the overwritten, overintellectualized, unfocused nature of its narrative, with its many meandering, disjointed story threads, it’s hard to say exactly what the director and screenwriter Nora Garrett were going for here. The story essentially centers around Yale University philosophy professor Alma Imhoff (Julia Roberts), an acclaimed voice in her field and eager tenure candidate who learns about an alleged sexual misconduct accusation leveled by one of her top grad students, Maggie (Ayo Edibiri), against one of her closest longtime professional colleagues, Hank (Andrew Garfield). She’s consequently caught in the middle, a scenario that seriously tests her loyalties, not to mention the impact that her “involvement” might have on her chances of securing tenure. But, in the process of trying to sort out her feelings on these matters, Alma also comes face to face with aspects of her own character that she has long buried, revelations that expose her own contemptible nature, a trait that has been carefully concealed but turns out to be on par with that of both Maggie and Hank. Add to that story threads involving a mysterious health issue, a dark secret from her past, and Alma’s constantly shifting relationship with her husband, Frederik (Michael Stuhlbarg), an demonstrably (and inexplicably) flamboyant therapist, and you’ve got a boatload of content packed into a picture in need of direction. And, because the story is set in the philosophy department of an academic environment, the film incorporates plenty of lengthy scholarly discussions (many of them decidedly belabored) that, frankly, amount to little more than high-minded intellectual ****. Admittedly, several of the intergenerational exchanges are scathingly witty and spot on in their critical poignancy, but they’re too few and far between compared to the many other overwrought dialogues that dominate a screenplay that clearly takes itself too seriously. To its credit, the film’s fine performances (especially Garfield and Edibiri) are its strongest suit, though Roberts’s glowingly praised lead portrayal is, in my opinion, somewhat overrated compared to some of her past performances. What’s more, this release is occasionally hampered by some odd camera work and an original score and soundtrack that often intrude too much on certain scenes, drawing more attention to the music than to the action it’s supposed to be supporting. Overall, “After the Hunt” feels like a knock-off of one of Woody Allen’s dramatic productions (right down to copying the signature credits style used in that filmmaker’s movies) though without the same level of eloquence and relevance present in those films. In the interest of full disclosure, I must confess that Guadagnino is not one of my favorite filmmakers, but, in the case of this pretentious cinematic mess with its wholly unlikable characters, I believe he’s reached a low point in his filmography. So, with that said, do yourself a favor and hunt for something better to watch instead.