#REVIEW: “AFTER THE HUNT”

Review by Nicholas Porteous for Mr. Will Wong

From the first frame of After the Hunt, it’s clear that Luca Guadagnino intends to play with fire. He invokes Woody Allen with his unmistakable font and minimalist opening credits style, and we’re thrust into the hallowed halls of Yale, where a mixed group of students and professors debate the merit of classic philosophers who surely would have been written off in a modern political context for problematic behaviour.

On its face, this is a chill discussion between friends, but there’s an unmissable tension brewing. Opposing aspirations, questionable power dynamics, and it’s clear that before too long, whatever’s left of the boundaries between these people will melt away. Sure enough, only a few scenes later, Maggie (Ayo Edebiri), an ambitious student, appears at the doorstep of Professor Alma (Julia Roberts), with a disturbing account of assault at the hands of Hank (Andrew Garfield), her friend and colleague. Alma shrinks away. She has a vested interest in both of these people–and her own potential tenure at Yale. They both cry out for her support as the hunt begins, and she has to choose between believing a victim without tangible evidence at the cost of her longtime academic partner’s future, or betraying a young woman and standing with a potential predator.

After the Hunt packs a powder keg of a premise, but in order to keep its provocations alive, the movie needs to obfuscate the audience’s view for over two hours, unpacking the characters as they become more and more ambiguous. That’s not an easy framework to play within, and the Screenplay collapses in on itself as it builds to a strange conclusion that flies in the face of its unknowable themes.

Framing the story from Alma‘s perspective makes all the sense in the world. We can never know the whole truth of the story, and she’s understandably pulled in both directions. While he may or may not be a liar, Andrew Garfield‘s pants are absolutely on fire as Hank. He plays the troubling character with incredible charm, despite his nightmarish inner turmoil. He’s fearless in his conviction, his rage, and his tap-dancing back and forth over the limits of everyone in his orbit. Ayo Edebiri plays Maggie with a fantastic duality. She’s clearly hungry for power, but also believably torn apart by her largely offscreen relationship with Hank, and unafraid to challenge anyone who glances sideways at her emotional testimony–terrifying in her victimhood.

The Hunt truly simmers whenever Roberts is confronted by either character, but left to her own devices–which is the majority of the runtime–the Movie fizzles. It’s unfortunate that Roberts plays Alma with such an icy cold veneer. This character is juggling a million impossible dilemmas–I haven’t even mentioned her sputtering marriage–but it’s rare to see Roberts convey much beyond a quietly agitated energy. She often seems more annoyed by these moral quandaries than profoundly shaken to her core. This kind of movie–where the tension is built from personalities and ideas more than action–demands a more dynamic lead performance. Roberts‘ approach is far too rigid, especially next to the likes of Edebiri and Garfield.

It’s unfortunate that After the Hunt ultimately fumbles its hot potato plot. Guadagnino‘s skill at realizing deeply unstable relationships is palpable, and some scenes in the middle section really cook. I believe Roberts had a better, more engaging performance to offer this material. Maybe her over-the-top indifference here is a reaction to being propped up as America’s Sweetheart for so much of her legendary career? Sadly, After the Hunt as a whole feels more like a blunt instrument of provocation, rather than the dangerous dialogue with culture it sets out to be.

Amazon MGM Studios release AFTER THE HUNT October 17, 2025.