Artificial — NYFF Review
In many ways, Luca Guadagnino’s Artificial feels more like a spiritual successor to David Fincher’s The Social Network (2010) than Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning, and it’s not merely because Andrew Garfield appears in both. Like Fincher’s film, Artificial follows men shaping the future of technology while exploring how their egos and evolving power dynamics define the company they build. Where The Social Reckoning felt oddly behind the times, Artificial, much like The Social Network before it, feels as though it arrived at precisely the right moment, on the precipice of a major technological shift. These similarities notwithstanding, Artificial doesn’t feel as impactful and lacks the staying power of The Social Network. However, it’s impossible to say whether we’ll still be discussing Artificial a decade from now.
After the Hunt — NYFF Review
I know it’s a sin to review a movie by dwelling on what the movie could have been or should have been instead of what it actually is, but I made the mistake of reading a draft of Nora Garrett’s screenplay for After the Hunt prior to seeing the film. The script was so enthralling, I couldn’t put it down. The characters were despicable yet deeply human. They were complex, layered, and captivating. The social commentary was timely and sharp without feeling preachy. The narrative flowed with momentum and precision, steadily building up tension. It even threw in a few surprises, but ones that still made sense narratively. It was everything I wanted Todd Field’s TÁR to be, and more. Traces of that brilliance still linger in the version that made it to screen, but they’re buried beneath a mass of baffling changes and ill-conceived stylistic choices, resulting in a film that feels scattered, bogged down, and bewildering.