Film Review: Woman of the Hour

Woman of the Hour
Director: Anna Kendrick
AGC Studios, Vertigo and Boulderlight Pictures
Streaming on Netflix: 10.18

As a general rule, horror simply isn’t my genre—I tend to find it tedious, silly and too lacking in characters to care about enough to invest two hours. Woman of the Hour  is an absorbing and disturbing thriller that takes place in the scariest of settings: the real world. 

In 1978 Los Angeles, Cheryl Bradshaw (Anna Kendrick) is an aspiring actress feeling worn down, rejected at audition after audition. Cheryl’s only friend in town is her neighbor and acting coach, Terry (Pete Holmes, Night Court, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever), who is her biggest source of support, until she she politely rejects his advances and he becomes standoffish. Meanwhile, the audience is introduced to Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto, The Pope’s Exorcist), a a serial killer who  targets vulnerable women—runaways and those disconnected from their communities—and strangles them to death.  The two stories converge as Cheryl’s agent, Helen (Jessica Chaffin, The Heat, Spy ) gets her a spot as the bachelorette on The Dating Game, which Helen assures her will be good exposure that will lead to bigger things. On the show, Cheryl’s job is simply to be pretty and ask the three eligible bachelors hidden on the other side of the wall some questions about dating until she finally chooses one. In his spot as Bachelor #3, Alcala assures the others that he will win, explaining that he “always gets the girl.” 

Kendrick makes her directorial debut, and establishes before the first scene is over that we can expect more in the future, with a keen eye, a knack for building tension and a skill with staging are that are quite striking. The best of many strong choices made in this film is to intercut the stories rather than following a straight narrative, but Kendrick keeps the focus firmly on letting us get to know and care about the victims as individuals rather than focusing on Alcala himself. The point is made loud and clear that every one of these women had a life, and was every bit as worthy of having their story told as Cheryl, they simply had their stories cut tragically short. The screenplay by Ian McDonald (Some Freaks) does take some artistic license by having Cheryl rebel against the instructions given to her by Dating Game host Ed Burke (Tony Hale, Arrested Development, Being The Ricardos) to concentrate on laughing and smiling and not play it too smart, standing up for herself and taking control. The choice doesn’t just make for a more entertaining film, it focuses Cheryl’s story in the larger theme—that the Rodney Alcalas of the world are an extreme byproduct of a society that devalues, commodifies and uses women without listening to them. While some are likely to take offense at the lack of sympathetic male characters in the film, they are missing the point. Kendrick is dropping those in the audience who are blissfully unaware of just how frightening and hostile a place the world is for a woman on her own right into that experience, and it’s a necessary rude awakening. 

Kendrick the actress is terrific as Cheryl, creating a multifaceted character who is naive, vulnerable, over her head and ultimately, stronger and smarter than anyone gives her credit for, including herself. Zovatto is more than effective at playing creepy, yet he avoids going over the top, and the strength of Kendrick’s choice never to let the character become too charismatic or interesting cannot be overstated. The breakout performance here comes from Autumn Best (4400) as Amy, a teen  runaway who is talked into taking a trip out the desert with Alcala to model for some pictures. 

Smarter and far more resourceful that Alcala would ever suspect, Amy—like Cheryl—is a survivor who learns how to use being underestimated to her advantage, and it’s an empowering performance that deserves to be building Oscar buzz. Nicolette Robinson (One Night in Miami…) also shines as Laura, a woman in the audience who recognizes Alcala as the creepy man who showed up on the beach the night her best friend was murdered, and can’t get anyone to listen to her pleas that something needs to be done.

Woman of the Hour is a terrific film that is, at times, quite depressing and upsetting, and it wouldn’t be inaccurate to call it an angry feminist movie. It has every right to be angry and to demand to be heard and heeded. The message rings out loudly that systemic chauvinism and misogyny, and those who allow it, share a degree of culpability in violence against women. It’s a bold and unforgettable truth that is powerfully stated by an artist who once again surprises us with the depth of her considerable talents. –Patrick Gibbs

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