Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt Review Questions Cancel Culture: NYFF Review

What is the impact of cancel culture, and does it have a right to be implemented in a society that’s just as complex as the world? For many people the term “cancel culture” is a uniformed way of thinking, and those who oppose it are immediately shunned from society. But who makes the rules, and does someone have the right to make a comeback after a given time? While many agree with these harsh terms when it comes to something extremely morally wrong, not every public shunning is earned or just. Careless mistakes and childhood regrets face the same fate as those who purpose to bring harm to others for their own enjoyment or selfishness. The term has been overused; cancel culture has lost its original meaning, and others are now demanding for it to be canceled.

This is the theme of first-time screenwriter Nora Garrett and director Luca Guadagnino’s After the hunt, set out to explore in a movie that’s both complex and underwhelming. What are the consequences of cancel culture, and are we cancelling people too soon and just for revenge? Set on the Yale University campus, After the Hunt attempts to be a thrilling drama where sexual accusations and cheating scandals are made as a high-profile student and teacher go toe-to-toe in a quest to discover the truth and to cover up their own lies. Julia Roberts stars as Alma, a hard-working philosophy professor who is on track to make tenure, discussing the moralities of life while hiding a dark secret about her past that manifests itself in debilitating ulcers. She soon takes an interest in her student Maggie (Ayo Edebiri), a determined scholar who struggles with her own identity and desperate need to be accepted into a White world she finds herself adopted in. While their student/teacher relationship relies on both their need to be accepted, it soon crumbles when Maggie accuses fellow professor Hank (Andrew Garfield) of sexual assault that strains both Maggie’s and Alma’s friendship and secret past. While Alma wants to believe Maggie, Maggie refuses to say just what exactly happened. What starts as a complex drama that results in Hank being cancelled unfolds into a soap of lies and intense coverups where everyone is left underdeveloped, leaving more questions than answers. Why won’t Maggie reveal what has happened? Why would Hank place himself in such a precarious situation? Has Alma’s and Hank’s friendship crossed the line? What is Maggie willing to do to succeed?

Despite After the Hunt’s shortcomings, Garrett’s script is sharp, fiery, and filled with sharp dialogue, cutting comebacks, and fast pacing, where each character is determined to outsmart the other. It can be both exhausting and exhilarating. Alma’s husband, Frederik (Michael Stuhlbarg), a psychoanalyst who is always trying to find the cracks in each character’s soul, verbally cutting them down when he senses weakness. It’s hard to tell if their marriage and conversations are based in love or one-upmanship. There’s a reason why Alma seeks friendship in both Hank and Maggie, where she gets to be considered the adult in the room. You can see why Alma is torn over the accusation against Hank.

Things become even more complicated when Maggie, their star student’s, secrets are revealed that can cause her accusation to crumble. However, this is a cancel culture society. Do people really care about the truth, or do they seek comfort in destroying someone’s career and ostracizing them? Maggie does have the upper hand as an adopted Black child to rich White parents attending a majority White university that has its own history of racism and oppression.

While one wants to believe Hank at first, his actions are further scrutinized when it’s discovered he has questionable behaviors around his female students and with Alma. His outburst in Alma’s class after he was fired doesn’t make him less innocent either. He quickly turns into a male cliché, with Alma being forced to decide if she’s ready to go down with the cancel culture ship.

While Guadagnino’s After the Hunt is not perfect; it does accurately highlight the demanding pressures of success, perfection, and the battle of not just the sexes but generations. Is Gen Z being coddled by cancel culture? Or do they just refuse mistreatment and treatment like generations that came before them? Both Maggie and Alma are hardworking, but they both use their privilege to get ahead. Maggie’s identity as a Black female lesbian fighting her way in a White male-dominated world vs. Alma’s White female privilege during a time when society is trying to right the wrongs of the injustices minorities and females faced in the past. Unfortunately, After the Hunt doesn’t provide an answer to this and its many questions.