And it is precisely in this boldness to let its waters remain murky, to allow its characters to be unreliable and unsympathetic and to live in horror, that, in my opinion, “After The Hunt” shines. Roberts plays Alma Imhoff, a Yale professor whose star student Maggie (Edebiri) accuses her colleague and best friend Hank (Garfield) of sexual assault. From pretentious, pseudo-intellectual debates over whiskey to hard-to-watch confrontations between two women of different generations and races berating each other over pronouns and intersectionality, to the unfairly messy politics of consent, After The Hunt dares to capture the frustration, hypocrisy and absurdity of the last five to six years (the film takes place between 2019 and 2025). It doesn’t necessarily provide answers, but that white guy in your Ethics 101 class – or on your schedule – isn’t trying to debate you on your humanity either. Most of the time, these topics shouldn’t be up for debate at all. “After The Hunt” challenges you to confront your own complicity in turning sexual assault into a punchline and your complicity in twisting the pursuit of victimhood into a breeding ground for the culture wars. The film’s biggest flaw is that it doesn’t highlight the racial dynamic between Maggie and Alma enough, but thanks to standout performances from Roberts (her best in years) and Edebiri (who continually proves she’s a star), the gaps in the script are filled with subtext and loaded looks. Add in a tense Garfield (he’s captivating and annoying) and you have a film that grips you and doesn’t let go until the last frame.
