Directed By Luca Guadagnino

Starring – Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri

The Plot – College professor, Alma (Roberts), finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads when a star pupil (Edibiri) levels an accusation against one of her colleagues (Garfield) and a dark secret from her own past threatens to come to light.

Rated R for adult language and some sexual content.

After The Hunt | Official Trailer

POSITIVES

Even in 2025, there’s still a tender trepidation and even preconceived prejudice stemming from sexual assault that makes it very difficult to approach from a cinematic dissection, and while Guadagnino’s latest film does eventually fall suspect to the hinderances and inexperience of a first time screenwriter, “After the Hunt” is still very much a thought-provoking engagement full of speculative insight that responsibly welcomes the conversation from one of cinema’s most daring auteur’s. From a framing device, this means the movie wastes very little time towards shaping the assault narrative, but refreshingly in ways that we as an audience never experience in real time, instead driving much of that aforementioned speculation by pitting us in the shoes of Roberts’ character, to figure out who is telling the truth, while also saving triggered audiences from being forced to possibly endure once more the sensitive imagery of degradation towards women that is sadly becoming commonplace for cinema. While this aspect inevitably won’t be for those seeking simplistic entertainment, it does force the audience to study the characteristics of these characters in ways that, irresponsibly or not, force us to jump to the same kind of conclusions that society shamelessly derives pleasure from, especially in the contemporized depths of social media that is weaponized to destroy lives, long before the facts materialize to light. Guadagnino has made a career off of conjuring intoxicatingly exotic imagery in the execution of his previous films, but here he inspires a coldly chilling and mundane canvas in ways that intentionally elicit the shade of grey that much of the experience revels in, leaving much of the artistic merit flourished between the zeroed in body language of its characters, with the hands of his ensemble portraying possibly the single most important character of the entire film. This unmitigated and lingering focus towards those hands is meant to signify a window into the soul of its characters in ways that are creatively illustrated within their various actions, such as Edebiri’s Maggie continuously expressing everything from emotional imbalance, to insecurity, to even a retraction of guilt, and it’s such a clever way of tapping into the purity of ones intentions, even if the nobility of them leaves slightly more to be desired. In addition to this, Guadagnino and cinematographer Malik Hassan Sayeed utilize the camera and its bizarrely brilliant angles of imagery to constantly contextualize as much of the internalized discomfort that lingers within its many atmospheres, particularly with juxtaposed framing that articulates the emotional distancing of its characters, as well as POV perspective shots immersing us into the plight of those aimed at during interactions, in ways that Jonathan Demme would be proud of. Because of such, there’s very little time away from the palpable tension and paranoia that these characters are feeling, especially during one on one conversations that are aided by the kind of rhythmic dialogue that is effortless to lose yourself in, all the while being audibly entranced by another gripping series of compositions from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, who score their fourth opportunity alongside a Guadagnino helmed project. Much of the instrumentals this time around intentionally don’t correspond subtly to what’s transpiring in frame, nor do they convey any kind of insight to the direction that a scene is aiming to play out, and that uncertainty not only drives so much of the uneasiness of the engagement that was advertised in the movie’s tagline, but also leads to some of the duo’s most eclectic work to date, featuring these blaringly intrusive arrivals that double as necessary jump scares to feed the dysphoria. On top of everything else, the performances are quite incredible and even deserving of awards acclaim, especially from Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield, who each captivate their portrayals with an emotional dexterity that truly takes each of them down some darkly devastating corridors. This is easily Roberts best work in over a decade, especially in delivering the kind of scathingly penetrating onslaught of responses that often come on the tail end of challenging her character’s morality, and Garfield, while still maintaining the suave sincerities of his limitless charisma that paints a false sense of security to other characters and the audience, rides the waves of unbridled intensity in ways that continuously shatter the sanctity with ground-shattering influence, in turn combining arrogance and invasiveness to feel like the dangerous kind of concoction that spawns so many of these unrequited advances.

NEGATIVES

While there’s much about “After the Hunt” to hint that Guadagnino is headed back in the right direction, after the colossal disappointment that was “Queer”, there are definitely some conflicting actions in the depths of the screenplay from Nora Garrett that didn’t always pay my investment off accordingly, beginning with a desire for philosophical characters and myths that she attempts to weave into the themes and lessons of this plot. Whether it succeeds or not is up to those who have studied it, but for me it obstructed such a pretentious outlining to interactions that were otherwise grounded in reality, feeling like the progression of the narrative is abruptly halted to bask in the glow of showing off a sophistication in these characters who were already difficult to invest in from a moral perspective. This leads to periodic sags in the complete picture of the script, but mostly during a second act that not only disastrously distances us from Garfield, but also focuses on an emerging romantic angle between Roberts and Edebiri, which never even felt slightly hinted at, throughout the engagement. This is a main problem that most of the script has, as the limitless ambition of incorporating themes such as cancel culture in academia, power dynamics, and loyalty are all fascinating components surrounding a sexual accusation, but rarely digested with any kind of depth or expansive insight to make them all the more integral to the movie’s foundation, leaving the film plagued by a shallow outline that doesn’t necessarily offer anything new alongside similarly structured films that at least had the advantage of doing it first. From there, some of the various set-ups to this conflict are rooted in the kind of lazy contrivances that are easily problematic with even ten seconds of thought put to them, such as Edibiri’s Maggie finding a condemning letter to Alma taped underneath the sink in her bathroom. It’s ridiculous on its own to think that Maggie would even be yearned to snoop through the possessions of her mentor without any kind of thoroughly developed motive, but it’s even worse when you consider that Alma is hiding something hurtful to her husband so close within his homely quarters, and it all just presents such a distracting way to summon a conflict that should feel natural with its societal relevance, requiring far more suspension of disbelief than should be warranted in a movie that is vividly depicting one of life’s most unfortunate aspects. Finally, while I wholeheartedly understand the intention within the epilogue pertaining to this movie’s ending, I can’t help but feel plagued by an air of disappointment and underwhelming emphasis that nearly condemned the experience, especially with an overly long 134-minute runtime that was made all the more unnecessary with the kind of nothingness that persists in this scene. Perhaps it would’ve meant more to me if I invested in these characters accordingly, but it never came close to landing any kind of even accidental impact to my interpretation, and it makes “After the Hunt” feel better as an idea, rather than the lackadaisical execution that followed it.

OVERALL
“After the Hunt” is a star-studded psychological drama about sexualized implication that feels traumatically stunted by the air of its own speculative execution that requires more assistance from the audience than necessary to a theme so sadly relevant in today’s social landscape. While the film is presented just as chaotically entrancing as some of Guadagnino’s best films, the muddled material has very little to add to such an important conversation, surmising a juxtaposed engagement that is tensely compelling, but unfortunately unfulfilling to its nearly two-and-a-half hour journey.

My Grade: 6.8 or C+