40/16
Frida: Something terrible is about to happen
Story
When tech billionaire Slater King meets waitress Frida at a fundraiser, he invites her to join him and his friends on a dream vacation to his private island. When strange things start happening, Frida questions her reality. We met director Zoë Kravitz and her cast on the red carpet of Blink Twice. Zoë Kravitz began writing Blink Twice under the original working title Pussy Island in 2017. Kravitz intended to keep that title for the film, but negative reception from the MPAA, women, and theaters prompted her to change it. Boa constrictors are not poisonous, so they couldn’t make snake venom out of them.
Appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers: Channing Tatum / Sabrina Ionescu (2024)
The Boss Written by Charles Bobbitt, James Brown, and Fred Wesley Cast by James Brown Courtesy of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Music Inc. Zoe Kravitz’s directorial debut is a stylish and brutal social thriller that has a lot going for it. The film tells the story of Frida, a young middle-class woman who is invited to a tech billionaire’s private island. What starts out as a romantic, luxurious getaway quickly turns into a seriously messed-up experience filled with memory loss, mind games, and plenty of dark satire. Kravitz shows off her camera skills, creating a film that looks great and mixes humor with some very tense moments. The cast is solid, the dialogue sharp, and there are plenty of great visuals that are engaging.
It makes the story feel disjointed and loses some of its impact
Kravitz is definitely more than just an actress trying to direct: she has the strength to back it up. But that’s the thing: for all the style, Blink Twice stumbles under its own weight. The plot tries to deal with too many things in too short a time: toxic masculinity, trauma, white privilege, cancel culture, you name it, it’s there. The pacing drags, the repetitive scenes and foreshadowing are so obvious that they almost ruin themselves. When the big twist comes, you’ve probably already guessed it and it doesn’t hit as hard as it should. The ending undermines the false feminist message that left me almost as disappointed as Saltburn.
But Blink Twice is not without its moments
These are just the beginning of the thematic questions… but someone with more theoretical experience should delve into this. If you’ve seen movies like The Glass Onion, Triangle of Sadness, Menu, or Don’t Worry, Darling, this will sound familiar. That’s both good and bad: it has some of the same vibe, but it also feels a bit dated, even if it starts off well. If it came out a decade ago, it would have been phenomenal. It certainly has style, and Kravitz’s dark tone could help it gain a cult following. The film attempts to go slasher in the third act, which sort of works, although as a horror snob I would have preferred more gore and brutality.
Blink Twice is well-made, but it’s also very unpleasant
Horror fans might appreciate it, but don’t expect it to scare you or cheer you up. I found myself deeply unsettled and incredibly unsettled watching it. It drew me into its fantasy world along with its characters. Zoe Kravitz is proving that she has a future as a director, and perhaps with a little more care, a sequel could really take off. For now, though, Blink Twice is a mixed bag that’s worth watching for its style and interesting ideas, but don’t expect a masterpiece.
