A frustratingly boring drama about exposing the sexual assault of Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein is a monster who is truly serving 23 years behind bars for rape and criminal sexual acts, and The The New York Times journalists who I reported the news For his misdeeds, Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohy — as well as the dozens of women who came forward for this piece (and then) to tell their tales of abuse and coercion — deserve nothing but praise. However, the story of how this cool feature came to be doesn’t make it an interesting movie. World premiere at this year’s New York Film Festival (before its theatrical premiere on November 18), and on the eve of Weinstein’s trial in Los Angeles, She said It is a serious and well-intentioned representation of Kantor and Twohey’s efforts to officially cast Weinstein as a serial sexual predator, which ultimately helped fuel the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements. It’s also quite lethargic, and no more exciting than the press reports it’s based on.

Quote from Cantor and Tothie’s book of the same name, She said Want to be a feminist All the president’s men or SpotlightThe problem is that it lacks the mystery and momentum of its superior predecessors. Directed by Maria Schrader (Netflix’s Unconventional), the film – after its 1992 brief introduction – was taken in 2016 with times Reporter Toohy (Carrie Mulligan) convinces Rachel Crooks (Emma O’Connor) to go on record about the abuse she suffered at the hands of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, only to see that it leads to Crooks’ harassment and no consequences for Trump. . fact that James Austin Johnson from Saturday Night Live It provides a voice for Trump that instantly injects pressure from the grotesque caricature into these earnest measures. This disconnect between fantasy and reality only escalates when Ashley Judd shows herself at a turn that comes as little more than a little disharmony, especially as the Weinstein-acclaimed actresses Rose McGowan and Gwyneth Paltrow play (in voice phone calls).

This is not to say that Judd’s willingness to put herself on the line against Weinstein was not commendable; Instead, we should note that She said It fails to strike a consistent balance between its real and imagined elements. It is difficult to shake off the impression that, in terms of consistency and comprehensiveness, the documentary would have served this narrative better. However, Schraeder does her best with her relatively relativistic number-based recitation of Cantor and Töhei as she struggles to drag Weinstein’s crimes into the light of day. The director’s gentle aesthetics are clean and serious, oscillating between images where Kantor, Twohey and others are small and isolated in the frame (to indicate their vulnerability) and close-ups and group shots (to convey the camaraderie that binds them in the task). These visuals are a little more creative than the ones in Spotlightbut at least they do not distract from the heroic courage on display.

It’s Kantor (Zoe Kazan), a mother of two girls, who started timesInvestigating Weinstein, she quickly enlists the help of Twohey, who is battling postpartum depression after giving birth to her first child (a daughter). Cantor understands and relates to the quiet suffering of Toohy, as well as her editor Rebecca Corbett (Patricia Clarkson), and similar relationships link these journalists to the women Weinstein terrorized and destroyed. From a Zoom conversation about rape between Kantor and her eldest daughter, to Twohey screaming furiously over the unacceptable advances of a qualified man in the bar, She said She unites her female subjects as victims (or potential victims) of regimes of persecution and sexual abuse—an idea that Rebecca Linkewicz’s text pronounces publicly, lest anyone miss the point.

At first, Kantor and Twohey find it difficult to track down reliable sources to confirm the whispered rumors about Weinstein, but their recalcitrant spying pays off, both with the A-stars and with Miramax employees and Weinstein aides who endure similar nightmarish encounters in a hotel room with the terrifying Weinstein-turned-horror. . Samantha Morton and Jennifer Ehle portray two individuals who are forced to speak to Kantor and Twohey, and in interview (or telephone) and other sitting (or telephone) scenes, Schrader replays their voices, which are silenced by Weinstein’s non-disclosure agreements , Finance. Compromises and threats of legal and professional retaliation. Unfortunately , She said seldom knocks with urgency or suspense; There is a predictability to its course and its overtones, and this luxury is enhanced by dramatic flashbacks (featuring different, younger actors) that are pretentious and unnecessary.

More than one figure suggests that Weinstein’s behavior, far from being unique, was equated with the American status quo. However, Schraeder has never expanded the scope of her epic work to contextualize the producer’s disgusting behavior as symptoms of a larger disease, thus undermining any desired larger picture. Even more frustratingly, despite an instant conversation between Cantor and her child about how everyone has secrets, there is nothing surprising or complicated lurking beneath. She saidSurface. While this might be more forgiving if there was a fantastic focus on journalistic operations, the movie is fairly ordinary in this respect, save for some subtleties within baseball (including one editor who noted that Kantor and Twohey’s version has many double spaces) and the blunt, no-nonsense performance of Andrei Prager as times Executive Editor Dean Paquet.

Even more frustratingly, despite a quick conversation between Cantor and her child about how everyone has secrets, there is nothing surprising or complicated lurking beneath the surface of ‘She’s Happy’.

She said He communicates atrocities with respect and expresses the frustration and anger of marginalized women. However, the longer it persists, the more it proves to be hostile and lethargic, incapable of arousing the desired anger or a sense of victory. Likewise, both Mulligan (harsh but somewhat unstable) and Kazan (determined and sometimes weeping) both capture the threads impeded by 2D roles, as evidenced by the fact that their personal and familial traces are rendered to give them depth and then fall carelessly once That escalated the search for Weinstein. Even in their pre-publication encounters with Weinstein – who are eventually depicted on screen, albeit only from behind – their brave determination is one note, uncomplicated by any legitimate threat of danger or questions about the justice of their cause.

All this makes She said A film that preaches the chorus by essentially personifying the latest major news, moderately affecting fashion. It might work for you, but it’s so rude and self-satisfied that it actually makes for good cinema.

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