After The Hunt | Film Review

 

College professor Alma (Julia Roberts) faces internal conflict when one of her students (Ayo Edebiri) makes an accusation against her colleague (Andrew Garfield).

I was apprehensive about this one. I started off excited but as the negative reviews started coming in, this seemed like one that was universally disliked. But because I really liked the premise I tried not to let it cloud my judgement too much.

So I was surprised to find that I actually liked it more than I expected!

Unfortunately it starts unbelievably slowly. I was interested to see where it would go so this didn’t bother me too much, but I was watching it at home and everyone I was watching it with gave up after less than 20 minutes, so I think it’s really easy to lose interest at this early stage. Not enough is done to grab the audience.

One of the other reasons you might give up early is because the environment of this world just isn’t accessible, which makes the story really hard to get into.

The actors are great. They all do a good job of making these characters feel authentic – whether you’re interested in them or not.

There are some really interesting shots, particularly anything pov. This stylistic choice works really well and tries to put you into the shoes of the characters.

As slow as it started, I quickly became invested. Yes it’s probably a bit too long overall, but all of the characters were really compelling.

And one of the reasons they were so compelling is because they were all completely insufferable. I understand why this may cause a disconnect with an audience, but for me this kept me watching. I loved how morally grey they were, how unlikeable they were and the fact that the story isn’t asking you to like them. It was a really unique way to go and I enjoyed getting to know them.

The story took some really interesting turns, it definitely isn’t as straightforward as you might assume.

Overall this is a really interesting film with complex, morally grey characters that I found really compelling and worth watching.

7/10