Tue, 23 Sep 2025, 11:03 am
শিরোনাম :
The ancient civilisation that inspired US democracy ‘I don’t recognize my country,’ says Angelina Jolie DUCSU Polls: JCD demands accountability as allegations arise No security threats around Durga Puja celebrations: Home Adviser Six new political parties set to get EC registration Peru anti-govt protesters clash with police Not a rivalry anymore, Suryakumar says after beating Pakistan Metro rail service time to be increased by 1 hour on trial basis Incessant raining causes waterlogging in Dhaka Dhaka’s air turns ‘good’ due to heavy rainfall
Opinion

Hasina-Modi Summit: Hope Lingers on

As an eventful year comes to an end, both Bangladesh and India concluded a virtual summit on Thursday, 17 December. Prime Ministers of both countries, Sheikh Hasina and Narendra Modi

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Another Victory within Many Victories

At long last, putting an end to all rumours, discouragements and despair, blithely ignoring the naysayers and defying all the odds and obstacles, the much-coveted Padma Bridge has come into

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Mutilation of Bangabandhu’s Sculpture and Political Islam

Some leaders of the Hefazat-e-Islam demanded that the government should not build sculptures of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and threatened to demolish those, if constructed,

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‘Recover Better – Stand up for Human Rights’

Countries all over the world celebrate Human Rights Day every year on 10 December. Not only the government, but social and cultural organisations also celebrate the day through their own

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Path to universal health coverage

For economically vulnerable families, an illness can turn into a full-blown crisis. Beyond the direct effects on their short-run incomes, there are wider welfare implications with children’s education being interrupted,

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A distinctively kind leader

Prison notes, written in an isolated and gloomy environment, can be touching reflections of deeper human emotions. High-profile political prisoners like Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who usually had very little time

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C’wealth SG attributes Bangladesh’s ‘incredible achievements’ to Sheikh Hasina

Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland has called Bangladesh’s past one decade’s of development “incredible achievements” saying Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina deserved its “full credit”. “Sheikh Hasina deserves full credit for

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How to Understand and Respect People with Disabilities

My elder brother, James, who was born in 1943 with a genetic chromosomal abnormality, Down Syndrome, and who had a severe learning disability, died in 1999 in the U.K. as

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How prophetic he was!

As we have reported in the earlier pieces of this column, Sheikh Mujib had to face many ordeals in prison. As he was kept in solitary confinement, it took an

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US Returning to the Point

No national election in the recent past, let aside US, anywhere else in the democratic world gained so much of attention, all for the wrong reasons and that too for

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Special 49th BCS exam to be held on 10 Oct

How to apply for the UAE Green Visa for skilled workers

China’s victory in people’s war against fascism

JAGPA president injured in knife attack outside Gono Odhikar Parishad office

Left-leaning VP candidate loses candidacy in JUCSU polls

A real chance for change in Sri Lanka

CA to hold meeting with 7 more political parties this afternoon

BMD predicts flashflood, multiple low pressures in September across Bangladesh

Unexpected incidents taking place in some univs, discussion for solution starts: Edn adviser

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.

Mohammad Hamiduzzaman MD, Chairman, Editorial Board

M. Abid Rahman, Editor

A K Azad, Bangladesh Bureau Chief

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