‘Blink Twice’ is stunning, twisted directorial debut for Zoë Kravitz
4.5/5 white outfits
Zoë Kravitz made her directorial debut with Blink Twice and has firmly cemented herself as a creative to watch out for. Many know Kravitz for her acting, but her vision for this movie is truly something special, mixed with stellar performances from her all-star cast. I can’t stop thinking about it.
Frida (Naomi Ackie) is living a dead-end life in a job she hates, but when she meets Slater King (Channing Tatum) at an event, everything changes. King is a tech mogul who, after a controversy, took time for himself to heal and grow, and Frida is obsessed with him. He whisks her off to an island and she brings her friend Jess (Alia Shawkat) with her, but not everything is as it seems. That is the easiest way to describe Blink Twice without giving anything away, and I do think seeing this movie with fresh eyes is the way to go.
What fascinates me about Blink Twice is Kravitz’s use of contrasting colors and her ability to capture the audience’s attention by the vibrancy of the island Slater and his friends frequent lulls you into a false sense of security. Every moment of beauty in Blink Twice forces you to examine something else with a magnifying glass and Kravitz really uses her vision to her advantage.
We know that Tatum is charming, but the kind of swarmy charm he brings to life in this movie is unmatched and only feels that much worse when you have the genuine happiness from Ackie’s Frida in moments. This movie could easily just be the aesthetic without any of the story that Kravitz brought to life with her co-writer E.T. Feigenbaum but the script really takes this visually pleasing film and makes it something twisted and fascinating.
It’s down to the cast
With thrillers that have you guessing what’s next, a cast can make or break it. The advantage of Blink Twice’s cast of characters is that they are people whose archetypes you instantly recognize. Sarah (Adria Arjona) is the kind of woman who isn’t a girl’s girl. You have two party girls who don’t really know what is happening at any given moment.
But it is the men in Slater’s circle that really highlight the kind of people this mogul associates with. For each new man who’s introduced comes a different ick that buries itself in your subconscious, never letting you trust them, and it is masterful filmmaking watching how Kravitz lets the story play out.
I just keep thinking about moments in Blink Twice and wanting to talk through them, to understand every instant in stunning detail. I was mesmerized by the drastic color difference in shots and then realized it was all trying to trick me, and I loved every second of it.
Blink Twice is a must see and one you should see without knowing a single thing about it because the twists really make this such a special experience. And hey, who doesn’t want to see a bunch of actors we all know and love absolutely killing it in Kravitz’s directorial debut?
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