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The illegal attack on Iran

ISRAEL’S consistent attacks on Iran since 2023 have all been illegal, violations of the United Nations Charter (1945). Iran is a member state of the United Nations and is therefore

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Khagrachhari embraces Eid spirit with a surge in tourism

Nestled in the folds of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Khagrachhari transforms into a vibrant haven for holidaymakers each Eid-ul-Azha. As the festival brings with it the promise of rest and

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Election schedule to be moot point of Yunus-Tarique meeting: Salahuddin

The announcement of the election schedule and other contemporary political issues will be discussed during the highly appreciated meeting to be held between Chief Adviser Prof Mohammad Yunus and BNP

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Behind the curtains: How Yunus-Tarique London meeting was set

Amid the Eid holidays, political circles and the general public across the country are abuzz with discussions surrounding the upcoming meeting between Chief Adviser Prof Muhammad Yunus and BNP acting

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Covid-19: DGHS urges all to avoid public gatherings

Voicing deep concerns over the emergence of a new sub-variant of COVID-19 sub-variant, Director General of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Dr Abu Jafor of Wednesday urged all

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Received Tulip’s letter: Press Secretary

Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam has confirmed receiving a letter from Tulip Siddiq, niece of Bangladesh’s ousted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, requesting a meeting with Dr. Muhammad Yunus, the

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Israel ‘kidnapped’ us on Gaza aid boat: Thunberg

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday accused Israel of ‘kidnapping us in international waters and taking us against our will to Israel’ after security forces intercepted a boat carrying humanitarian

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Professor Yunus to deliver special speech at Chatham House today

As part of his public diplomacy efforts, chief adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus will deliver a special speech at Chatham House, the Royal Institute of International Affairs on Wednesday. He is

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Mild heatwave sweeps parts of Bangladesh

Parts of the country are currently experiencing a mild heatwave, which is expected to persist for the next two days starting from Wednesday morning, according to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.

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Tensions continue along Bangladesh’s borders with India, Myanmar

Tensions along Bangladesh borders with India and Myanmar have continued to rise amid repeated incidents of push-in and border killing by the Indian Border Security Force and land mine explosions

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The megastar plays a philosophy professor shaken by a student’s sexual assault allegation against a colleague in Luca Guadagnino’s new film – and she’s easily the best thing about it. Julia Roberts doesn’t make many films these days. She was in Leave the World Behind in 2023; in 2022, there was her tropical romantic comedy with George Clooney, Ticket to Paradise; and then we have to jump all the way back to 2018 for her previous turn in Ben Is Back. But you can see why she chose to star in After the Hunt, a contentious campus drama directed by Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name, Challengers). Roberts is on screen for almost every one of its 139 minutes, and she is the monumental centre around which its chaos and controversy swirl. It’s the kind of heavyweight role that gets awards nominations if it goes to the right person – and Roberts is definitely the right person. Her character is Alma, a philosophy professor at Yale University. Striding regally around its leafy quadrangles in a chic white suit that matches her blonde hair, this combatively intelligent alpha female is adored by everyone who knows her. Her husband Frederik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is resigned to the fact that he loves her more than she loves him, and is willing to make whimsical jokes about the imbalance; Hank (Andrew Garfield), a would-be rebellious friend and colleague, is even more flirtatious with her than he is with everyone else; and her favourite PhD student, Maggie (Ayo Edebiri), worships her – which could explain why she is Alma’s favourite PhD student. It seems as if the status quo might soon be upset, though, as either Alma or Hank – or perhaps both – is expected to be granted permanent tenure. But then something far more drastic happens. The day after a boozy party in Alma and Frederik’s book-lined flat, Maggie tells Alma that Hank walked her home and then “crossed a line”. Alma is sympathetic – but only up to a point. There is no evidence of assault, so she isn’t sure whether to trust the word of a new friend over an old one, especially at such a critical moment in her career. And maybe, her thinking goes, lines were crossed at the party anyway, considering that teachers and students were hugging each other while knocking back expensive wine. “Roberts’ Alma is a coiled spring: her steely stillness makes her ferocity all the more powerful” It’s refreshing to see a grown-up Hollywood film that takes on contemporary issues: feminism, cancel culture, identity politics, and the generation gap. But After the Hunt is more of an admirable project than an engaging drama, because it never stops reminding you of how clever it wants to be. Guadagnino keeps showing off his quirky camera angles and intrusive music choices. The screenplay, by Nora Garrett, squeezes too much philosophical jargon into the dialogue, and too many tangential scenes and subplots into the structure. You might think that the alleged assault would be a big enough deal for any film, but Alma is given mysterious abdominal pains and guilty secrets, and Maggie is overloaded with significance as a queer, black, plagiarism-prone young woman with a non-binary partner and rich parents who are major donors to the university. In theory, viewers of After the Hunt should leave the cinema arguing about its subject matter. In practice, they’re more likely to be asking each other what was going on and what it meant. It’s all a bit much, basically. Garfield, miscast as a denim-clad dude who is, it is implied, roughly the same age as Roberts’ character, shouts and swears and waves his arms with a quantity-over-quality approach to acting. Stuhlbarg’s flouncing and sing-song delivery are presumably meant to be irritating, but perhaps not as irritating as they actually are. At the heart of it all, though, Roberts is a different matter. She understands that less can be more. Her Alma is a coiled spring: her steely stillness makes her ferocity all the more powerful and her pain all the more intense. Her muttering is scarier than Garfield’s yelling, and when she glares at someone, they stay glared at. It’s an expertly controlled performance which demonstrates why Roberts has been a Hollywood icon for so long, and why she could well be in line for her second Oscar, 25 years after Erin Brockovich. After the Hunt would have been better if everyone else involved had had some of that control, too.

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