Alpha

This opening scene looks so innocent, and then it becomes completely heartbreaking when you realize exactly what is going on. Be prepared for a shock, as this is unlike anything I've ever seen on film and truly beyond words to describe.

We've now got a refreshing look at family life amongst the trauma these people are facing, and it's wonderfully comforting. I've not seen the underlying epidemic that this family is dealing with from this side, and it's being portrayed in the loudest way I've even witnessed.

The film is visually demanding on the senses, and you can't be sure how to feel or if there is any sense to the madness. In the midst of the tragedy that is the plight of the film, there is a rebellious outpouring showing the will to live.

Alpha starts off really strong but loses the plot halfway through.

Alpha is about a teenage girl in the 80s who gets a tattoo, and her mom freaks out because she could have gotten "the virus." It clearly alluded to HIV , but the movie exaggerates it into a terrifying, almost horror-like disease.

The first half works great - we see how quickly she's treated like an outcast. Her boyfriend panics after kissing her, nobody wants to touch her, and the film links her to groups who were stigmatized at the time due to HIV (gay men, junkies, etc.). It's heavy stuff but handled well.

Then the second half happens. The focus shifts away from her and onto her junkie uncle, which just isn't as interesting. By the time the movie dives into its "dream within a dream" idea, it completely goes off the rails. I usually like weird, Lynch-style storytelling, but here it just felt messy and overcomplicated.

Alpha starts out as an emotional story about fear and stigmatization, but by the end the director is too clever and the plot just gets frustrating.

A chilling epidemic, widespread unrest among the populace, and a cloud of paranoia; elements all stem from the chaos that ensued in the past during HIV/AIDS transmission. Therefore, the tale centred around a rare, untreatable disease is bound to stir some 'relevant' emotions.

That said, the symbolism feels tenuous at best, much like the interpersonal dynamics among the central characters: the mother, the brother, and the daughter. I found it difficult to connect with their personal struggles, aside from a few fleeting moments of spark, the writing overall failed to sustain my interest in their respective journeys and plight.

The psychological aspects, whilst intriguing, are carelessly woven into the narrative. They come across primarily as hints and vague allusions, lacking the solid grounding needed to make them convincing and credible.

As for the bodily themes; something Ducournau has always been drawn to (Raw and Titane are the clear examples) it's evident that these elements are tied to social stigma, reflecting the shame and guilt we often carry and inadvertently pass on to those we love.

However, once again, the execution falls short of attaining the legitimacy of the drawn parallels; the implications do not reach the depth that was intended, nor did it solidify their intentions.

Now, when I stumbled upon this 2025 movie titled "Alpha", from writer and director Julia Ducournau, I virtually had no idea what I was in for, aside from it being a horror movie. But given my love of all things horror, of course I needed no persuasion to sit down and give the movie a fair chance.

While there was potential in the storyline, I have to say that writer Julia Ducournau sort of dropped the ball, and the movie ultimately fell short of being overly interesting. Yet, I stuck around for a very prolonged 128 minutes, hoping the movie would pick up and something interesting actually would start to happen. So many things in the narrative were just casually brushed aside without given any in-depth explanations, such as the virus, or how a man can walk about with a back that literally crumbled, and other things.

I was actually not familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, which I found to be a nice thing, as I do enjoy watching new and unfamiliar talents on the screen. The acting performances in the movie were fair.

The effects in the movie were actually quite good, especially the scene with the biopsy performed on the back. That was definitely the most interesting scene in the entire movie.

The movie was a rather shallow experience, as there simply was too many things easily glanced over without paying much attention to it or bothering to paint it out for the audience. So it felt like a half-hearted movie at best. And thus, it is hardly a movie that I would recommend you to spend 128 minutes on watching, as there simply wasn't enough of interesting contents to the narrative. Trust me, this movie will never find a second play on my screen.

It should be noted that the movie was far too slow paced and long to support a 128 minute runtime. It would have benefitted tremendously from a more round-handed trim in editing.

My rating of writer and director Julia Ducournau's 2025 movie "Alpha" lands on a rather generous four out of ten stars.

Alpha has an interesting premise, but the film spends far too long circling a message that's ultimately very simple. What could have been a tight, impactful story becomes slow, repetitive, and overly symbolic. The performances are solid, but the script leans so heavily on metaphor that the emotional core gets lost. By the time the film reaches its conclusion, it feels like a lot of buildup for very little payoff. Not terrible, just frustratingly hollow.