There are overdoses of premieres in this greedy era when the malnourished public is supposed to want to return to the cinema. And every god logically insists on placing his creatures in the rooms at the same time.

Except for the arrogant and all-powerful Netflix, which spends a lot of time placing its products in cinemas, or does so for a few days in very few and peripheral theaters to offer them two weeks later on its Babylonian and massive platform. Your lavish business is safe. Bad times for that ancient and hypnotic ritual of going to the movies, of watching movies in their natural place, on a big screen, in silence, surrounded by darkness.

And among so many films with a certain initial hook, I have to approach the least attractive one. For my tastes, of course, since its creator, Luca Guadagnino, enjoys critical fervor, and Hollywood, always on the hunt for European talents that give it artistic prestige, has long placed itself at his feet.

For me, his expressive style and themes cause me a lot of boredom. With the exception of a wonderful conversation about life between a humanistic father and his bewildered teenage son in Call Me By Your Name. The rest of his films annoy or irritate me. The only initial attraction of witch hunt is that it stars Julia Roberts, whom I always like to watch and listen to. In addition to being a star, she is a convincing actress, I always believe her. It has magnet, beauty and personality. However, here I am indifferent, although they say that he can aspire to the Oscar. It is intense and mysterious. They have dyed her hair a strange color, they intend to make useless changes to her privileged physiognomy. And those things, along with playing people with physical or mental illnesses, always make people fall in love at the acting Oscars. Julia Roberts here doesn't move me in the least. Like the rest of the plot and characters.

Guadagnino tries to provide suspense and raise questions about consensual or forced sexual relations at Yale University, between a black girl and daughter of a millionaire and a relatively young professor. And many morbid things are supposed to happen in such a select, wise and expensive place, with the power that can be acquired by achieving the position of full professor. The director plays with intrigue, pretending to be disturbing, but everything remains pretentious. Shot with a visual style that is as sophisticated as it is ineffective. Without infecting me with the slightest interest in the continuous shadows, contradictions and paradoxes that they try to inject into the murky history. There is not a single character whose present or future worries me, something unforgivable in a cinema that pretends to be psychological, complex, twisted, with edges, full of doubts.

Guadagnino cites that Woody Allen's cinema is his eternal reference. I don't see the similarity very clearly. I understand that the great Crimes and misdemeanors would dazzle him and make him think of her when filming Witch hunt. Also in the accusations that Allen received from Mia Farrow. And of which he was declared innocent in two investigations. But the similarities end there. Guadagnino also says he admires Almodóvar's cinema. I do believe that. I have no doubt.

witch hunt

Address: Luca Guadagnino.

Interpreters: Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, Andrew Garfield, Michael Stuhlbarg, Chloë Sevigny.

Gender: drama. EU, 2025.

Duration: 139 minutes.

Premiere: October 17.