True crime documentaries and podcasts are the bane of our time. They are typical of a system that uses trauma and misery to feed capitalism. What’s worse is that it employs armchair observation, which requires neither expertise nor curiosity.
Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut woman of time, About Rodney Alcala, a serial rapist and murderer who ultimately became a contestant. dating show In the 1970s, attempts were made to avoid these problems with some success. But otherwise, it’s just a well-intentioned, if amateurish, rehash of the leftovers of better films that dealt with the same theme, about how misogyny is the background radiation of women’s daily lives. It feels as if.
Ian Macdonald’s screenplay attempts to turn historical curiosity into a full-fledged narrative exploration. It’s like taking a finger sandwich and trying to make an entire meal out of it. It’s true that Robert Alcala, chillly played by Daniel Zovatto, was a guest on a dating show and he won, but it had nothing to do with the assault or murder. It’s an eerie antidote to the terrifying epidemic of inhumane mental illness.
Kendrick and McDonald aren’t really interested in how Robert got along. dating show And so much more happened in trying to show the overall dehumanizing culture that allowed Robert to thrive in the first place. woman of time Kendrick jumps through time in a strange way while trying to show us the trail of bodies left behind by Robert. However, the time skips do little to add suspense and do little more than demonstrate Kendrick’s ability to introduce horrifying events tastefully and effectively.
at the center of woman of time Cheryl, played by Kendrick, is a reality contestant who chooses Alcala, but after meeting him, she refuses to accept the show’s prize of a trip to Carmel, California, because she finds him creepy. She attempts to show how Cheryl overcomes sexism and systemic misogyny, but ends up leaving the woman, who is just an important footnote in the case, a co-star next to an actual serial rapist and murderer. I made it into a.
But despite this, Kendrick finds a few moments of truth. Her true talent lies in her ability to coax lively performances out of her small characters, even when MacDonald’s script tries to turn them into walking symbols of clichéd messages. While MacDonald tries to portray two-dimensional characters, Kendrick finds ways to make them feel alive and fleshed out.
Pete Holmes plays Terry, a next-door neighbor and friend who sleeps with Cheryl because it’s easier than saying no. This scene is great, not only because it’s one of the few subtle scenes in the movie, but also because it shows the little gray area that women have to work with men to avoid being attacked. There’s nothing in Terry’s words that would hurt Cheryl, but Kendrick shows little signs that Terry doesn’t listen to her. For example, when Terry comes into her apartment and refuses to answer when she’s on the phone.
Zovatto as Robert Alcala is suitably dull and intimidating, but shows how such a man can persuade women to be alone with him. Kendrick avoids popular depictions of serial killers and tries to avoid making Robert charismatic. He is a blank slate, an empty vessel filled with all the personality needed to trick women into being alone with him. Zovatto nails this pitiful emptiness, his eyes unable to see anything inside.
But the real best thing is Autumn Best, who plays Amy, the film’s final victim. She plays a young girl who, after being assaulted, realizes that the best way to survive is to cater to Robert’s deranged ego. She apologizes to him and asks him to keep it a secret, essentially taking responsibility for her assault and giving her time to escape.
The vests are phenomenal, and Kendrick and her cameraman, Zach Cooperstein, do a painstaking job of capturing the moment. She caught Best’s face and watched the wheels turn as she began to speak, trying to get out of danger. This scene is one of the best in the movie simply because Kendrick isn’t afraid to go to dark places mentally.
Kuperstein takes photos well woman of time But it rarely goes beyond sleek and smooth. But in the final half-hour of the film, Kendrick steps in and the film, which had been limping for most of its running time, begins to jog with confidence.
There’s a moment in the studio parking lot where Cheryl realizes that her relationship with Robert isn’t working out, and Kendrick’s talents as an actor and director are on display. Her use of space and editing in this scene creates a sense of threat and danger without being flashy. It’s a shame that the rest of the movie isn’t made with the same confidence.
Kendrick has publicly stated that he refused to pay. woman of timeHe said he donated his director’s salary to charities for abuse victims. She did it because she didn’t feel it was right to profit from a woman’s trauma.
Kendrick is woman of time It doesn’t feel exploitative at all. However, placing Cheryl’s story at the center of MacDonald’s screenplay, while making Robert the de facto protagonist, muddies the waters. Although they seek to tell a broad story about women’s presence in modern society, the core of the story is rooted in a specific incident. But as the movie progresses, it starts to feel exploitative, whether intentional or not.
woman of time is a better looking movie than what Netflix usually puts out. Additionally, Kendrick and McDonald use humor to introduce the darker side of Hollywood, such as a scene where a casting director talks about Cheryl as if she wasn’t there.
woman of time is a movie I spent a lot of time admiring, but didn’t really like. I really liked it when I fell in love with it. But most of this movie felt like it was trying to justify its existence by showing us how men fail women. I think its main purpose is to show how often we turn real people into characters for content. But in doing so, Kendrick falls into the same trap.
The story goes like Laura (Nicolette Robinson), a close friend of one of Robert’s victims, was in the audience that day and recognized Robert. Her frantic efforts to track down the producer, her conflict with her silent boyfriend, and the security guard’s disgusting jokes make her feel weightless. Kendrick and McDonald interject scenes with Laura and Cheryl on the game show. They try to make the back and forth work like clockwork, as evidenced by Dan Romer and Mike Tuccillo’s bombastic score.
The end of the sequence is anticlimactic, but that was not what Kendrick intended. This feels inflated, in contrast to the plausible insinuations of how women often fail when they try to take advantage of the system. But it’s not enlightening, it just seems boring.
Some people think it would have been better to make up a story similar to the incident and move on from there. Because there was so much we were seeing about Cheryl. dating show Made up. Cheryl didn’t come up with questions on the spot, and Robert came across as stupid and sexist like any other bachelorette. Here again, we are guilty of modern true crime, and the finger-wagging, “How could you not see?”, while understandable, overlooks the real horror of not being able to see sometimes.
Text crawl for the epilogue at the end of woman of time Probably one of the most horrifying. This brings Kendrick’s purpose into sharp focus. The system doesn’t care and doesn’t work. This bubbling emotion underlies much of the film, but its full intensity is never felt towards the end.
Image provided by: Netflix
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