My relationship with the cinema of Luca Guadagnino is a strange one, as I always feel I should love his films more than I end up doing. For some reason they never totally live up to my expectations and I seem to find myself a little disappointed by the films each time. In fact, if I am totally honest, the only film of his that I have completely connected with was “Bones and All” which ironically is probably the least liked Guadagnino film by the general public. For whatever reason though, I always look forward to his films, even though I am also cautious now with my expectations.
When “After the Hunt” had it's first screenings, the reviews were brutal, and I would guess the worst of Guadagnino's entire career. Whilst most reviewers singled out Julia Roberts for her impressive performance, they were not as kind to Guadagnino's handling of a controversial subject. Screams of the film being “woke” were loud and regular, as was the disgust over a lot of the Gen-Z views that show up within the film. For those that do not know, “After the Hunt” is about a college professor, Alma, who is put into a very tricky position when one of her best pupils, Maggie, accuses one of her best friends (and fellow professor), Hank, of a sexual assault after a night where they all partied together. When Hank insists that he is innocent of what he is accused of, Alma is put in a difficult spot of working out who to believe and what is the actual truth, while supporting both friend and pupil in their ordeals. When the trailer for the film first came out, I was taken aback by it, particularly the use of a lot of Gen-Z “buzz words” and their constant feelings of being outraged at everything, with their reaction being to “cancel” the thing they find offensive. These are things that drive me nuts in the real world, so my early opinion towards “After the Hunt” was a negative one, and I was sure that I was not going to like the film, which seem to be confirmed after those early reviews began to surface.
As luck would have it, “After the Hunt” was one of my free MIFF screenings during the year, so I booked a ticket, but still didn't go into the film with the most positive attitude. This seemed just too, as I absolutely hated the opening, extended scene, which sees a group of both students and teachers, conversing at a party about many topics, such as the state of the world today, why the world is like that, why the younger generation are so outraged at everything, and many more things. It is a long scene, set in one room, that introduces all the characters, but I felt that the whole thing was so incredibly smug and elitist. The academic language the characters use against one another in attempt to show off how intelligent they are, or more intelligent than the other, not to mention all of those buzz words I mentioned earlier......the scene just rubbed me the wrong way and I thought I was going to hate “After the Hunt”. However, once the assault takes place and accusations are thrown about, and the moral dilemma of the film comes into focus, the film became infinitely more interesting. In fact, after that opening scene that I hated so much, I was totally enthralled for the rest of the film.
The thing that critics of “After the Hunt” dislike most about it, is they feel that Luca Guadagnino did not have the balls to actually pick a side on the debate being presented. We never find out exactly what happens in regard to the assault. We do not know if Maggie really was assaulted by Hank, or if she accused him of the crime as revenge after he caught her plagiarising her essay and called her on it, like he claims. There is no concrete conclusion to the story, but that is the whole point of the film, and what makes “After the Hunt” so damned interesting. It is such a complex situation, and a very serious one too, and the position Alma is put in is almost an impossible one. Without any real proof to prove one way or another, is is a “he said, she said” affair, and how can you know what the “truth” of the matter really is? Is there even more than one “truth” or do you end up only believing what you want to believe, or do you believe what will be the easiest road to travel? If Maggie was indeed assaulted by Hank, it is an incredibly serious matter, so Alma has to treat her complaint with the seriousness it deserves, and the consequences of the assault would need to be significant, despite Hank being her friend. However, if Hank is innocent like he claims, it is unfair for him to lose everything, his job, his reputation, his friends, his future, over something that did not happen, which is an effect of this cancel culture that has become so prevalent in our world today. Lives are destroyed just on a rumour, or the slightest accusation, and before an investigation into it can begin in the hope of finding the truth, society has already moved to cancel this person due to the outrage they feel. People find it easier to be disgusted and outraged over anything that makes them uncomfortable, instead of investigating it or asking questions to find out if they have anything to be even outraged about. This is what Julia Roberts' character has to deal with throughout the film, and then there is the added wrinkle about something that happened in her own past, which comes back to haunt her in this situation.
As I have said, I found the film so, so interesting, and I loved that it tackled both sides equally while not giving a concrete conclusion. The point of “After the Hunt” is to start a conversation, to ask questions, but not to answer them, and I think this is what most people misunderstand about the film (and why they dislike it), and why it is so underrated. It disheartens me to think that today's cinema audiences seem to need to be spoon-fed everything, and whenever a film asks its audience to participate in the conversation it is starting, they immediately react negatively towards the film. This is also true of Kathryn Bigelow's recent “A House of Dynamite” and the negative reaction towards it's (what most people thought was a) lack of conclusion......but that's another story. Again, let me say that “After the Hunt” was a fantastic film that is also very intelligent, and of the moment, and well worth your time. As well as it's very interesting story, it has also been impeccably acted by everyone in the cast.
No comments:
Post a Comment