BLINK TWICE (2024)
Starring Naomi Ackie, Channing Tatum, Christian Slater, Simon Rex, Adria Arjona, Kyle MacLachlan, Haley Joel Osment, Geena Davis, Alia Shawkat, Levon Hawke, Liz Caribel, Trew Mullen, Cris Costa, María Elena Olivares, Saul Williams, Tiffany Persons, Aaron Himelstein, Ben Jacobson, Caroline Forsythe, Garret Levitz, Regina Guerrero and Zoë Kravitz.
Screenplay by Zoë Kravitz and E.T. Feigenbaum.
Directed by Zoë Kravitz.
Distributed by Amazon MGM Studios. 102 minutes. Rated R.
Blink Twice takes its name from an old joke – or is it really a joke? – “Blink twice if you are in danger.” This statement suggests that someone is in a situation under duress, and they may not be able to actually say out loud that they are not safe. The joke part is that the person is usually not in danger, because in a really dangerous situation would someone really be able to say that to them?
But what if they were? And what if they didn’t realize they were in danger? What if they thought they were in a good situation until something turned dark on them?
This is the basic idea behind this thriller – the writing and directing debut of actor/singer Zoë Kravitz – daughter of singer Lenny Kravitz and actor Lisa Bonet. (Kravitz also has a small role in the film as a flight attendant.)
The concept seems simple, but of course becomes much more complex than originally expected. Two best friends Frida and Jess (Naomi Ackie and Alia Shawkat) are invited to the luxurious private island of a mysterious bad-boy billionaire Slater King (played by the director’s fiancé Channing Tatum.)
They end up on the island on a whim, with three other women guests and about five or six guys – all of which they barely or don’t know. They are slathered in creature comforts, fine cuisine, expensive alcohol and drugs. They are having a wild, amazing time, until they start to notice some odd lapses in memory and some strange bruises on their bodies which they cannot explain.
What is really happening to the women on the island is the mystery of Blink Twice, and as a filmmaker Kravitz shows a deft eye for smart characterizations and chilling contradictions. She obviously has a real talent for making slick potboilers for mass consumption.
If the eventual climax doesn’t exactly make sense – well it kind of makes sense in the film’s universe but raises some serious questions looking at it from the real world – Blink Twice is still a fun ride. If you can sort of turn off your mind (maybe like some of the characters – see what I did there?), there is a lot of fun to be had in watching the film.
Blink Twice is definitely a provocative film, one meant to inspire some serious debate about gender relations. (To give you an idea, Kravitz has said that the original title was going to be Pussy Island, but it was changed due to push back in polls.) One could argue that most of the guys turn out to be almost cartoonishly evil and flawed, and at least a few of the women are shallow misogynists, but that would be kind of missing the point. Blink Twice is not supposed to be taken literally, I believe, but more figuratively.
Or maybe I’m imparting too much psychological and sociological baggage on Blink Twice. Maybe it’s just a b-level thriller with a particularly challenging point of view. The fact that it mostly works in both ways is an impressive trick.
It will be interesting to see what Zoë Kravitz does next.
Jay S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2024 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved. Posted: August 22, 2024.
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