Blink Twice (2024) You’ll never forget this debut film from Zoë Kravitz

“More champagne, Mrs. King?”

Feb 08, 2025

**“Blink Twice” (2024)** Directed by Zoë Kravitz. Picture courtesy of and with thanks to **www.imdb.com**

As longer term readers of mine will attest I have somewhat of a fetish for debut films and, if you’ll permit me, feel free to type my name and “A Life at the Movies Vol.1” into Amazon and there you’ll find the greatest book on debut films you’re never, ever going to read but hey, we’re all friends here and you’re welcome to prove me wrong. Away from such gibberish, had I watched Zoë Kravitz’s debut movie Blink Twice last year it would have easily squeezed into my top 10 films for the year as quite frankly, it’s astounding. So here are the opening 13 minutes of a film before I leave you to search out a copy and enjoy the 2 hours that follow. The appraisal below will tell you everything and absolutely nothing and anyway, you’ll only forget or be so desperate to remember you’ll still forget and perhaps like Frida’s best friend Jess, you’ll be left wondering when the human sacrifice starts.

Is it before or after dinner?

Who’s to say?

As the shutter sound of an old school Polaroid camera accompanies the minimal opening credits presented in a bright yellow font we cut to a distorted picture and discordant sounds that eventually become an eye of a green frog sitting on a rock and the first of many close-ups and references to a cigarette lighter. Lighting an incense stick is “Frida” (Naomi Ackie) as she first peruses her own Instagram site before scrolling through a number of Instagram Reels and eventually settling on a contrite and apologetic video from Billionaire “Slater King” (Channing Tatum) speaking direct to camera from a beach. Even this early on in the film, Kravitz’s direction and Kathryn J. Schubert’s editing propels the narrative at an engaging and fast pace in league with the juxtaposition of a Billionaire on a beach and Frida’s eyes and this couldn’t be any more stark and yet, as you’re about to soon discover, it will be. But first “I, Slater King, would like to formally apologise for my behaviour. I have sought therapy, and I will be taking a leave of absence” and here Frida begins searching for news items on the monied man in the video with internet stories galore headlining with his continual “reckless behaviour” and “abuse of power”. An immediate cut takes us to a more formal if friendly interview with Slater King and, for the first of many, many times in the film your eyes will be drawn to an almost ethereal background and predominantly, the rich colour of red. Against an almost pure white background and sat in a red chair, King again cannot be any more apologetic for his actions as he repeats a slow and simple refrain of “sorry” at least three times before stating his leave of absence from his company will enable him to “stop and smell the flowers” and as such, he’s bought an island. Yes, he’s bought an island!

As the friendly interview continues he paints a picture of a remorseful and changed man as well as a basic island where he grows his own food, keeps chickens and, as he’s keen to reinforce, there are “no phones”. The interviewer suggests his actions will be seen by his critics as “Performative Philanthropy” to which King responds that he’s simply “trying to do better” and all this continues as we cut back and forth from his interview to a enraptured Frida watching (her eyes now illuminated by nearby candlelight) and back to King as he continues to apologise for his previous actions over, and over again. A loud knock on the door (and first request of the film so far for a cigarette lighter) jolts Frida away from the video and now with a longer and wider shot we see that she’s been sitting on the toilet whilst watching these videos the entire time. We now cut to Frida peeling a small wad of dollar bills from beneath a bathroom mirror before staring directly into the mirror and exclaiming “I need a fucking holiday”.

The first of the film’s fantastic soundtrack now kicks in with “Paid the Cost to Be Boss (The Boss)” by James Brown as we follow Frida into work listening to the tune on her headphones before she unpacks her red coloured backpack into her locker. It’s a big evening and the “King Tech Gala” and already late for work and immediately admonished by presumably her manager for being so, she’s also reminded not to repeat her outlandish behaviour at the same event last year and, for the first time of many in the coming two hours of the film, to smile. We now cut to Frida helping her best friend and colleague “Jess” (Alia Shawkat) unpack boxes of champagne for the evening and as Jess is asked, for the first time of many in the coming film, “can I borrow your lighter”, Frida thoughtlessly admonishes her best friend and roommate for being out so late last night and trying to rekindle an old romantic relationship. Frida is far too terse with her friend as she accuses her of a lack of “self respect” and, for the first time of many once more in the film, she reinforces her inability to “forget” anything or the way her friend was treated in the past and that she shouldn’t “give away her power”. Immediately contrite, Frida apologises for the intrusion into her friend’s life and as the ladies pour each other an imaginary glass of champagne to toast their friendship a manager walks by reminding them “Don’t forget to smile ladies” to which Frida and Jess smile behind his back whilst giving him the middle fingered bird!

We now cut to the Gala itself and immediately apparent is the ethereal pure white set dressing and via a reverse angle, row upon row of red coloured chairs. Spotting Slater King for the first time, Frida is distracted, pouring champagne all over a guest’s dress before we next find Frida later in the evening following King’s every move through a porthole window as she watches him from the backstage area as the Gala is coming to an end. With their hostess and waitress work for the evening now done, Jess has both a surprise and a question for her friend: would she prefer to wear the red or blue dress to the after Gala party? Frida naturally chooses the red dress and we next find the young ladies in the middle of a gaggle of other ladies eagerly preparing for the after Gala party and Frida talking aloud of “revenge” and, again, “forgetting” and “remembering” before, for the first time, slipping awkwardly in her high heels as she and Jess make their somewhat clumsy entrance to the after party. Immediately denied entry to the “Private Area”, Frida becomes transfixed on something or someone as she aimlessly ignores the denial of entry and here director Kravitz cleverly cuts to her high heels once more as Frida stumbles and collapses, taking a passing waiter with her tumbling to the floor. We now see Slater King for the first time in close-up, again an almost ethereal ring of Christ around his head as first he helps Frida back to her feet before snapping the other heel from her other shoe. “I saw it in a movie once” he laughs. They share a longing stare at one another before Frida mouths “Holy Shit!” to Jess as she reaffixes a smile and is introduced to “Rich” (Kyle MacLachlan) whom King introduces as his first his doctor, and then his therapist. Frida responds jokingly, and for the first time in the film, “blink twice if I’m in danger!” before King waves away the joke and is soon introducing Frida and Jess to his gaggle of gathered friends and first “Cody” (Simon Rex) his private chef, “Vic” (Christian Slater) King’s photographer, “Heather” and “Camilla” (Trew Mullan and Liz Caribel), “Tom” (Haley Joel Osment), “Lucas” (Levon Hawke) and finally a disgruntled “Sarah” (Adria Arjona) who can’t help but continually say “Don’t Call me Babe”. Despite the whirlwind of the exclusivity of the after party and a blur of friends and names, Frida is keen to reinforce with a smile “I have an excellent memory”.

The final cut of the opening lucky 13 minutes or so of the film sees only King’s friends together with Frida and Jess remaining at the very end of the after Gala party amid many smiles and much laughter and all sitting drunkenly around a red coloured table. Whilst “Stacy” (Geena Davis) is fleetingly introduced as King’s Personal Assistant to hurry both him and his friends aboard his private plane to his island, King only has eyes for Frida who is as clearly besotted with him as he is with her. Regrettably, King follows the rest of his friends away from the party but before Jess has time to relax into the arms of her friend he returns with a simple if urgent question “You guys wanna come?”. Accompanied by “Somebody Made For Me” by Emitt Rhodes we join the private jetsetters as they approach King’s island before two overhead shots perfectly encapsulate the wealth on display as a fleet of black limousines ferry our island sunseekers to the red pillars and gates of King’s Mansion through to the red Mansion House. As Jess jokes “This place sucks!”, she is then the last in line and the most reluctant to relinquish her mobile phone to Stacy who collects every phone in a bag before Vic gathers the partygoers on the steps of the mansion and as he requests they all shout “making memories” he captures a group photograph on his Polaroid camera as “BLINK TWICE” is very briefly shown in the middle of the screen.

How to sum up Blink Twice without further spoiling it is a task in and of itself, so let’s start instead with huge kudos to debut director Zoë Kravitz and her editor Kathryn J. Schubert for a film that zips like a bullet from scene to scene, for E.T. Feigenbaum for jointly writing an incredible screenplay alongside director Kravitz and any and everyone from the production design (Roberto Bonelli), art direction (Derek Hecker), set decoration (Paola Enriquez) and last but certainly no means least, the costume designs of Kiersten Hargroder. The costumes, for example, fit one of the recurring patterns and themes of the films, being as they are often uniformed across the female gender in particular together with the perfumes supplied, with the repetition pattern continuing in every tangential direction from the overwhelming use of the colour red (Mansion House, Beach House, Chairs, Flowers, Gift Bags and no doubt many more that flashed by me unnoticed), Vic continually taking Polaroid photos at every and any opportunity, every day is full of champagne, sunshine and weed, every night is full of the most exotic food imaginable conjured by King’s personal chef Cody followed by the madness of MDMA, waiters, waitresses or support staff are either seen dead eyed ala their slavish equivalents in Jordan Peele’s 2017 masterpiece Get Out or barely seen at all and just their hands constantly refilling glasses with champagne oh, and, “can I borrow your lighter?” and “are you having a good time?” and why can’t anyone remember anything, why do some wish to forget, and what day is it?

Continuing on from Jordan Peele’s highly recommended Get Out, I also saw a lot of Rian Johnson’s 2019 film Glass Onion, more than a touch of the otherwise underwhelming The Menu from 2022 and a huge slice of Ruben Östlund’s horribly brilliant Triangle of Sadness from the same year and whilst I’m keen to reinforce, to myself if no-one else, that Blink Twice is just a film, there’s a huge finger pointed in the direction of wealthy and powerful men and their influence over young and impressionable ladies as, let’s be honest, there’s some repugnant activities happening on this fictional island and I specifically noted the phrase “Performative Philanthropy” as we see that charade daily on our telescreens of doom and yet these men (it’s always men) with their desires to save the world as they scoot around the world on diesel guzzling private planes and yachts and all whilst lecturing us on our carbon footprints as well as promising to give away their vast wealth in the guise of philanthropy or philanthrocapitalism (disaster capitalism in another guise) and yet, damn it, their “Foundations” and “NGO’s” just keep on making more and more money and their wealth goes nowhere near the words coming out of their lying mouths. They must just be lucky I guess. Oh, and a private island for the vexatious and vacuous? (rich and famous surely? film editor). I’m sure you could name a certain man and a certain infamous island and a list of names that at this very minute is about to be released by the current President of the USA and in weeks, hundreds upon hundreds of the worst human beings ever to set foot on planet earth will be rounded up and thrown into prison for the rest of their filthy, stinking, rotten and disgusting lives? Quite frankly, if you believe that, then I have a Bridge on the River Kwai to sell you.

Oops, that’s a bad tangent even for me to conclude with and at such a late stage in proceedings, so let’s reiterate that had I seen Blink Twice last year it would have easily climbed into my Top 10 films of the year, I remain astonished Zoë Kravitz’s debut film hasn’t garnered a raft of award nominations, and I heartily recommend this incredible film to you.

Thanks for reading. I hope this message in a bottle in The Matrix finds you well, prospering, and the right way up in an upside down world.

Whilst you’re here I may as well brag about the release of my trilogy of recently self-published books. Beautiful covers eh! As the title(s) would suggest, this is my life at the movies or at least from 1980 to 2024, and in volume 1 you’ll find 80 spoiler free appraisals of movies from debut filmmakers, 91 of the very best films appraised with love and absent of spoilers from 1990–2024 in volume 2, and in volume 3 you’ll find career “specials” on Paul Thomas Anderson and Quentin Tarantino together with the very best of the rest and another 87 spoiler free film reviews from 2001–2024.

All available in hardback and paperback and here are some handy links: