Saturday, January 28, 2023

She Said

Movie Name:
She Said
Year of Release: 2022
Director: Maria Schrader
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan, Patricia Clarkson, Andre Braugher, Jennifer Ehle, Samantha Morton, Ashley Judd, Peter Friedman, Adam Shapiro, Tom Pelphrey, Zach Grenier, Angela Yeoh, Gregg Edelman
Genre: Drama
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 7
Watch it on Amazon Prime

Synopsis and Review
Director (and also actor/writer/producer, though not in this particular project) Maria Schrader is back, following the well received "I'm Your Man" which went through the festival circuit in 2021 to considerable accolades. This new endeavor is an adaptation of the reporting and book by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey (with Rebecca Corbett in the case of the article), which tackled the decades of abuse inflicted by Harvey Weinstein, which also turned out to be a catalyst for the "Me Too" movement that has since occurred. The film follows the story of Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor, both investigative journalists at The New York Times. While they're initially not working/collaborating together on the same project, particularly since Megan recently had a baby and is dealing with some issues of her own, they soon join forces, once Jodi receives a tip that actress Rose McGowan was sexually assaulted by well known film producer Harvey Weinstein, and Megan has had experience in writing about such topics. They both start the process of uncovering the latitude and extension of these wrongdoings, by investigating and uncovering other women who have been equally victims of Weinstein. That includes other Hollywood actresses such as Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow, and a series of women who worked directly in the periphery of the producer's arena, namely assistants. The more they probe, the more they realize this is a problem that has existed for decades, and that through a series of settlements and non-disclosure agreements, Weinstein has avoided any legal consequences. They fly out to meet with former assistants of the producer in California and also in London, where they uncover more details to the stories surrounding his wrongdoings. They are also informed Ronan Farrow is writing a similar exposé, but they soldier on with their investigation. As Weinstein tries to discredit the women who have come forward, and by extension the reporting, the more the team at The New York Times perseveres in making sure the article is supported by claims and documents.
"She Said" immediately brings to mind two celebrated films: Alan J. Pakula's "All the President's Men" and the more recent "Spotlight" from director Tom McCarthy. All these films tackle very pertinent and relevant topics, but at the end of the day in order for a narrative to be truly compelling, it has to be anchored in characters who make the feature both riveting and arresting. And that is probably the Achilles' heel of this film: while the topic of the narrative is toweringly relevant and pertinent, the characters who are pushing for it, namely the two central reporters, they both feel somewhat under-developed beyond the typical cliché of what a newspaper reporter is suppose to look and act like (worth revisiting Ron Howard's "The Paper" to be reminded of those clichés once more). Essentially we get a very brief insight into who the reporters are, the same way we get very little insight into the victims of Weinstein. The film focuses on the investigative process, which includes the attempts Weinstein does to bury the exposé, and while the content of the film is indeed potent, some additional color on the characters themselves would have brought the film to another dimension (who are the people behind the reporting). In trying to be objective and respectful towards the topic at hand, the film ends up not having much of a point of view on the characters that exist in it. And while lack of judgment on characters is always welcomed, the film could have benefited of expanding a bit more on who Jodi, Megan and Rebecca are (the same going for some of the victims). The cast is uniformly good, with particular highlight going for Carey Mulligan, who gives her character a range of emotions, from a fraught recent mother to an unassuming yet authoritative news reporter (she alone makes the film worth watching). The cinematography from Natasha Braier is solid, as is the score from Nicholas Britell and costumes by Brittany Loar. Worth watching.

0 comments: