Starring former stripper and once named by People magazine *The Sexiest Man Alive* Channing Tatum alongside the lead heroine Frida, played by Naomi Ackie, who recently was Whitney Houston in the biopic “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody”, the mystery thriller “Blink Twice” offers dazzling sequences to its audience that you wouldn’t normally see mixed with the genre. The director Zoë Kravitz has made some quite unique choices there, managing among other things to offer an example of celebration of filmmaking as a part of visual arts. Typically one would accept the aforementioned as a given, but in the case of “Blink Twice” everything is a bit different – this movie is here to remind you what *visual arts* really mean. The composition of colors in most of the shots, the framing, the close-ups, the transitions; each of those aspects serves the purpose “show, don’t tell”. While that may still sound like we are talking an ordinary movie here, the pacing and chosen focal points in sequences in “Blink Twice” most of the time are not ordinary for a thriller flick.
With “Blink Twice” Zoë Kravitz seems to indeed have made her goal to try and drag the psychological thriller subgenre out of the box of traditional and accepted notions, giving her own spin on core concepts. The psychology of color in filmmaking becomes a visual storytelling tool alongside the cliches about the exotic locations and having the romantic time of one’s life. Furthermore, psychoactive substances and the mentioning of the 1960s are thrown into the mix at some points. The mix works incredibly well – “Blink Twice” manages to have the viewer feeling as part of the party there. Drinks, jokes, music, dancing, banter; all of that had its mesmerizing grip on me.
"Blink Twice" behind the scenes. Source
But of course, everything is not as it seems. The intent behind the psychology of color, cliches and substances, all presented in exquisite and elegant fashion, is not what it seems.
Naomi Ackie as Frida in "Blink Twice". Source
I have mentioned Zoë Kravitz’s character confronting rich white males in my “The Batman” review before and that is what she is doing with “Blink Twice”. Channing Tatum, Christian Slater and Kyle MacLachlan all are being willing accomplices in this endeavor. All well dressed, well groomed, well spoken and well experienced in social situations. You wouldn’t presume they could ever shock you. That’s as fundamental a part of the movie’s mojo there as the director’s take on the core concepts mentioned earlier on. You wouldn’t think the men there would have anything in common with any of the murderers of women in UK so far this year.
Channing Tatum as Slater in "Blink Twice". Source
By the time I realized what “Blink Twice” was really about, I was already adroitly entranced by all the visual razzle-dazzle the movie would offer. So much so I was very unwilling to accept the rude awakening. I came to see the movie imagining, in line with my understanding of a standard narrative of a psychological thriller, there would be some evil, effed up character, however other people in it would all be at least decent, probably forced into making some not so decent decisions by not so ordinary circumstances. Alas the screenwriters Zoë Kravitz and E.T. Feigenbaum had something else in store for me: a psychological part that would deal with series of strange awakenings. Once again I must commend the intention to take the traditional concepts and notions related to the genre and filmmaking, and building suspense all the while masterfully syncing the viewer with the reality and experiences of the lead heroine. Like I have mentioned, I didn’t want to wake up, wanting it to all be a great and sex positive experience with happy end and everything.
Naomi Ackie as Frida and Adria Arjona as Sarah in "Blink Twice". Source
“Blink Twice” doesn’t make its objective to deal with the positive. If it did, it would probably have been a flick of a different genre. It left me with question about why sex is bad. When was the last time you saw a movie where sex was great? After watching “Blink Twice” I’m genuinely curious about how people feel about the general state of contemporary cinema and tv shows. How much of all that is sex positive?
Peer Ynt
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