01/09/24

Cineworld, Edinburgh

Actor Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut comes with a trigger warning. ‘This story features sexual violence.’ It’s a tale of toxic masculinity and wealth and the ways in which both things can go hand-in-hand. It’s impossible to watch this and not think about certain high-profile sex scandals from recent history. But Blink Twice is also an assured and intriguing thriller with a labyrinthine plot that makes a lot more sense in retrospect than it seems to as it unfolds.

Frida (Naomi Ackie) and her flat mate, Jess (Alia Shawkat), live a hard-scrabble life in New York, working as cocktail waitresses to make ends meet. But a rare ray of sunshine comes with a yearly charity event where they have the opportunity to mingle with the rich and famous, hosted by the reclusive tech billionaire, Slater King (Channing Tatum). After a scandal, a year ago, Slater disappeared from public view and even stepped down as CEO of his own company, but he’s recently been in the news apologising for his bad behaviour. He now lives on his own private island, where he claims to be living a quiet and blameless life.

When Naomi unexpectedly hits it off with the Slater at the event, she and Jess find themselves invited on a trip to his island and, almost before they know it, they – and a bunch of other young women – are living the high life, nights of unfettered hedonism where champagne and drugs flow like water. Naomi seems to be developing a genuine relationship with Slater, much to the annoyance of another female guest, Sarah (Adria Ajona), the star of a survivalist game show. Slater’s male friends, Vic (Christian Slater) and Tom (Haley Joel Osment), seem like nice guys and his private chef, Cody (Simon Rex), creates wonderful feasts for them to enjoy every night. It’s all brilliant… isn’t it?

But it gradually begins to dawn on Naomi that something here is wrong. Why do none of the women know what day of the week it is? Why are her dreams so weird? And, in a rare moment of clarity, an even more troubling question emerges: what’s happened to Jess?

It would be criminal to reveal any more about the plot of this assured psychological thriller, other than to say that, as the tale unfolds, it moves inexorably deeper into the realms of horror. Frida is terrific in the central role and Arjona (who made such a good impression in Hit Man) is clearly destined for stardom. Geena Davis has a small but pivotal role as Stacy, Slater’s right hand woman, generally too stoned to stop and think about what she is complicit in. (Remind you of anyone, Ghislaine?)

The script, by Kravitz and E T Feigenbaum, is cleverly put together, liberally sprinkled with clues that only fully add up in the final scenes. The story takes some wild swings in its latter stages but they are all subtly signalled along the way. Adam Newport-Berra’s dazzling cinematography and Kathryn J Schubert’s slick editing ensure that the film always looks sumptuous, even when what’s happening onscreen is rotten to the core.

As the story sprints into its nerve-shredding conclusion, I find myself holding my breath as the tension steadily mounts – and how you will feel about a late-stage revelation will really depend on your faith in human nature, or your lack of it.

Either way, this signals Kravitz as a director of great promise.

4.4 stars

Philip Caveney