Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut, Blink Twice, manages to bring you in with its mysterious premise, but as soon as things begin unfolding, you’ll wish they weren’t.
Trigger warning: This review contains mentions of sexual violence.
Zoë Kravitz is no stranger to talent, having worked on great films such as Mad Max: Fury Road and The Batman, as well as being the daughter of musician Lenny Kravitz. So when it was announced she would make her directorial debut with Blink Twice (then under the working title Pussy Island), fans had high expectations.
Blink Twice follows cocktail waitress Frida (Naomi Ackie) as she unexpectedly comes into contact with Slater King (Channing Tatum), who soon invites her to his private island getaway. On the island, things aren’t as they seem and Frida and co. soon find out what is exactly happening.
The movie starts slow but engaging and promotes the mystery enough that you are interested as an audience member. The themes of power are prominent throughout, from the very beginning to the very end, but the way the movie goes about it and its depiction of graphic sexual violence, really turn an otherwise normal commentary on class into something truly disturbing.
The plot of the film takes a turn for the worse in the middle of the second act when Frida and Sarah (Adria Arjona) begin to uncover clues and gain back a piece of them that was taken, in a way similar to Christopher Nolan’s Memento weirdly enough. This turn takes the film from your typical class commentary (think Glass Onion, The Menu or Triangle of Sadness) and turns it into a twisted Get Out that has extremely uncomfortable depictions of sexual violence and drugging of women.
It is where the movie gets its horror from, but at a point, it just becomes too much. I would describe myself as not disturbed by much, only ever having given that title to a film or two in the past. But the sheer willingness of Kravitz, who wrote and directed the movie, to include these scenes in the film makes me question her judgment. The film would be far more palatable if the scenes were only alluded to (akin to Barbarian) instead of including these several scenes throughout the last half of the film.
It’s saddening because I truly do think the rest of the film is at least good, even if it doesn’t touch greatness. The themes are nailed pretty well outside of the obvious (and the ending), and are quite easy to understand, but still never outright spoken. The script works well enough, even if some lines sound as if they’d never been uttered by a real human being.
The casting of the film is quite eccentric, taking a different approach with casting the rich kids club compared to something like Knives Out. Rounding out the cast are Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Haley Joel Osment, Levon Hawke (son of Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman), Geena Davis, Alia Shawkat, and Kyle MacLachlan amongst others.
Channing Tatum delivers a chilling performance, one of the best in his otherwise comedic career. Lead Naomi Ackie starts off quite rough with her performance but she does handle some of the controversial material in the end with nuance and gives a dedicated performance. For me, the standout of the film is Adria Arjona who is just fantastic, giving a strong follow-up performance to Richard Linklater’s Hit Man. Cinematographer Adam Newport-Berra does well with the material, taking a unique and abstract approach that is only elevated by the film’s witty and snappy editing.
The movie ends on a weak note, that flips the power dynamic on its head, but it does flip it too much on its head, making me question Kravitz’s intentions and understanding of that theme, as well as some oppressive behaviour seen throughout the movie.
Blink Twice does not know when enough is enough, overindulging itself on some awful ideas in a movie that is otherwise interesting. Through a variety of good technical elements and strong performances, the movie is not lost but struggles to overcome the graphic depictions of sexual violence.
Blink Twice is directed by Zoë Kravitz and stars Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Adria Arjona, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, and Kyle MacLachlan. The movie was produced by Amazon MGM Studios and internationally distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and is now playing in theatres worldwide.
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