Posted in: Movies, Review | Tagged: after the hunt, andrew garfield, Ayo Edebiri, julia roberts, Luca Guadagnino

After The Hunt Will Make You Mad, Refuses To Apologize For it {Review}

After The Hunt will make you uncomfortable and uneasy from the word go, and that is the point. A tough watch, but a good one.

After the Hunt is a film that will make you mad, no matter what side of the fence you are on while viewing it, it encourages you to stay in the middle and embrace the events that unfold during its run time, as well as the questionable responses to those events, and sit with your discomfort. Layer upon layer of tension and ugliness are heaped on the viewer, with little time to release any of it. By the time the story sort of resolves itself, it feels like you just went through a car wreck. Powerhouse performances all around from the whole cast propel this challenging narrative past the point of worrying if you should be enjoying it, and instead make you feel dirty for liking it as much as you are.

After The Hunt Forces You To Feel Uncomfortable

Yale professors Alma (Julia Roberts) and Hank (Andrew Garfield) are close to achieving tenure at the Ivy League school, and share a natural attraction to each other. That all gets put to the test when Alma's student Maggie (Ayo Edebiri) accuses Hank of sexual assault after leaving a party at Alma's house. Maggie worships Alma and is let down when she confides in her, only to be met with coldness and a need for further clarity on what exactly happened. The blow-up that follows takes all three and Alma's husband, Frederick (Michael Stuhlbarg), to the edges of their sanity, making them face how power dynamics, gender politics, and a multitude of other factors shape how we navigate life these days.

After the Hunt is the fourth film in three years for director Luca Guadagnino, and nobody is making the types of adult and challenging films that he is. Starting with Bones and All, and continuing through Challengers and Queer, he is beginning to feel a bit colder in his filmmaking. After The Hunt is the most cynical of this run, and one wonders if the world at large is starting to get to him a bit. While those other films feel more outwardly illicit, this one places that tension on the situations and conversations these characters are in, bringing a lot of it to a head in different ways, even when he might have taken a different path in the past. A lot of Luca hallmarks are here —the tight shots, the out-of-focus monologues, the seconds-too-late pans.

But this also feels like he took a step back a bit and let others do the heavy lifting this time. First-time screenwriter Nora Garrett pulls no punches and does not try to hide anything in any subtext. The script serves the film, and it becomes a sly thriller, if not an ugly one. It is paced well and gives each revelation room to breathe; each challenging subject is able to land and have a moment to sink in before the next biting quip or questionable stance is taken. She refrains from taking sides and lays out the warts-and-all positions of Alma and Maggie in full and isn't interested in picking a winner. Nor does she let Hank off the hook, either. All three end up where they probably should and were fated to at the end, but none of that was the point anyway. Garrett, while a little heavy-handed in some points, has crafted an intricate and layered story that will only be appreciated over time.

As will the cast of After The Hunt, who all turn in some career-best performances. None more than Roberts, who has never been this strong, even when winning her Oscar. She is intriguing from the moment she appears on screen, and sends chills down your spine for multiple reasons throughout the film. Edebiri is rightfully one of Hollywood's most exciting young actors, and watching her go toe to toe with Roberts multiple times in the film is a delight. Garfield is as slimy and icky as you would want this character to be, but still finds a way to get you to almost feel a twinge of remorse until the end. Almost, but not quite. And Stuhlberg nearly steals the whole movie, and it is for a performance that at some points feels like he is in a whole different film altogether.

When leaving After The Hunt, many conversations will occur, and they will be raw, emotional, and uncomfortable, just like the film itself. When you hold a mirror up to a viewer like this and ask them what they see reflected back, you hope they are affected enough to answer truthfully and without fear of blowback. Are we there at this point? Probably not, but consuming art of this kind is a step in the right direction. Far from perfect, it is still a film that many will see and take something from it, good or bad. It doesn't care which one.

After The Hunt

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Review by Jeremy Konrad

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8/10

After The Hunt will make you uncomfortable and uneasy from the word go, and that is the point. A tough watch, but a good one.

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