This review was made possible by Popped attending a Press and Industry screening for Title at the 69th London Film Festival.
The reception at the Venice Film Festival was not kind to After The Hunt upon its premiere, landing its Rotten Tomatoes score to debut at just 46%. Still, London awaited and hoped the London Film Festival could receive it with a warmer reception. The cast introduced the film, and the excitement was high in the room, with the festival having just previously screened the highly praised Hamnet.
Luca Guadagnino has become a popular favourite for many, with recent releases including: Challengers, Queer, and Bones and All. This recent project features a star-studded cast, with Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, and a new star in Ayo Edebiri. After The Hunt had all the ingredients to be a great and courageous film, unfortunately, the film stands as one of Luca’s weaker projects.
Tension, Tone, and Technique
Set in 2019 at the height of the #MeToo movement, After The Hunt centres its story on two professors and a student at Yale. When a student (Edebiri) accuses Hank Gibson (Garfield) of sexual assault, Alma Olsson (Roberts) finds herself at odds between her good friend Hank and mentee Ayo Edebiri, in a “he said, she said” situation.
After the Hunt is a high-energy, semi-paced character-study film with a group of complex, grey characters that are supposed to make you feel uncomfortable and stiff, and it certainly does that. The score, composed by Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, is fine and serves the film well, but a continuous ticking sound that is heard through the film in short sequences makes an interesting choice, which may be divisive among the audience. The ticking enhances the tension and induces stress – it is supposed to feel stressful. There is never a dull moment, but ultimately, the film does a lot of things without saying a lot.
This is a film that does not change or advance the film genre and topic conversation, which, with such a timely matter, could have had a message to say or encouraged the audience to sit and think. It’s fine to have a film be ambiguous, but all the same, it is quite difficult to understand what Guadagnino is attempting to do with this film. Again, despite the timely matter, the clichéd characterisations and messy screenplay, prohibit the story from ever truly landing. The script is over-wordy, using dialogue that feels contrived for the sake of upholding an intelligent appearance.
However, visually, this film is wonderfully shot, with stunning cinematography and fascinating camera work throughout – particularly the close-ups that are used, particularly when Hank’s emotions are heightened, perfectly capturing the suffocation and pressure his character is feeling, which those feelings are then passed onto the audience.
Performances and Character Depth
Julia Roberts delivers a riveting leading performance, and is one of the strongest aspects of the film. Though her character could have been developed more in regard to her mysterious past and present health struggles, Julia does the best she can to elevate the film. Hank, on the other hand, goes missing for a large stretch of time, but Andrew Garfield is really great and takes a commanding presence in every scene he is in. It’s certainly another solid supporting performance entry in his long filmography.
While Michael Stuhlbarg puts in solid work, often tending to be the one lifting the weight off of the audience’s shoulder with minor comedic tones to his character, it feels as though he is in a completely different film, and the tonal shifts from his character to everyone else appear quite jarring.
Ayo Edebiri is possibly where the scale of performances, tips. Performing alongside seasoned actors such as Julia and Andrew is never an easy task, but individually, Ayo’s performance falls flat, and neither the performance nor the writing gives space for the audience to connect with Maggie Price to fully explore her complexities. Ayo does great work in some scenes alongside Julia Roberts, and the film could have benefited from diving into their dynamic more, but individually, Ayo could be better.
An Ending Out of Time
Perhaps the biggest question mark of the film could be the time jump in the ending scene, which serves very little to the overarching story and becomes too convoluted with what it is trying to tell the audience. Ending the film one scene earlier, in a raw and emotional moment between the married Frederick and Alma, would have been the far more powerful decision.
‘After the Hunt’ – Final Thoughts
Overall, After The Hunt’s landing doesn’t stick, but there are many strong aspects to be positive about, as the cast do their best to deliver. It’s an uncomfortable watch and will be quite divisive upon release.
After The Hunt releases in theaters on October 17. Check out the trailer below:
The Review
After the Hunt
Overall, After The Hunt's landing doesn’t stick, but there are many strong aspects to be positive about, as the cast do their best to deliver. It’s an uncomfortable watch and will be quite divisive upon release.
Not impressed, filmed mostly with the lights off.