By Steve Crum

Without the hand-held shots and artsy framing, the overlong (139 minutes) After the Hunt would be left to its own mundane story, a confusing tale of mistrust and jealousy among university academia. 

Director Luca Guadagnino weaves the campus-based psycho drama through mores, guilt and beliefs. In fact, Guadagnino’s storytelling, written by Nora Garrett, is unique in that not one character is either likable or involving. Why even care about what is happening? 

Consider the plot setup. Alma Imhoff (Julia Roberts), a respected Yale professor, is married to Frederick Mendelssohn (Michael Stuhlbarg), a psychiatrist. Alma’s close friend, Hank Gibson (Andrew Garfield), is accused of sexually assaulting Maggie Resnick (Ayo Edebiri), a top PhD student of Alma’s. 

Then the plot is scattered with insinuations, clues as to Hank’s guilt, and the questioning of Alma and her husband’s relationship. Oddly then, Alma becomes the detective of sorts as she pursues the truth about whether or not her young friend Hank is guilty. Or is Maggie framing him for some reason? 

Roberts and Garfield are OK in their grim portrayals, as is Edebiri. But as mentioned earlier, there are distractions that get in the way of the storytelling. Add Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s score. Guadagnino has chosen to infiltrate the plot flow with incongruous snatches of music. The sporadic editing of such includes clunky piano underscoring, evidently symbolizing minds in turmoil. The result is distraction instead of clarity. The same goes for the infrequent use of hand-held camera shots.  Also drawing attention are the numerous closeups of body language, to punctuate action and talk. It does not help; it hinders. And what is with the metronome sound?

And what is it with the movie’s oddball conclusion, the last words? A joke?

If After the Hunt was trying to be different, it succeeded. That is not a compliment. 

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GRADE on an A-F Scale: D