THE RECKONING (SHE SAID)

There have been many great films about journalism over the years - Howard Hawks' 'His Girl Friday,' Billy Wilder's 'Ace In The Hole,' Oliver Stone's 'Salvador' and Tom McCarthy's 'Spotlight' to name a few.

However the film that a lot of journalists really adore is Alan J Pakula's 'All The President's Men'.

Pakula's movie of Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's investigation into the Watergate break-in undoubtedly secured its place in journalism lore.

It is also a film that has inspired many reporters around the world to become reporters.

Woodward and Bernstein's toppling of President Nixon has become the yardstick by which all investigative reporting is measured.

And the same is true in cinema.

'All the President's Men' is the yardstick by which all movies about reporting are judged.

Pakula's film looms large once again in the latest movie to focus on excellent investigative journalism.

Maria Schrader's 'She Said' is an adaptation of the 2019 book by New York Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey about their efforts to uncover Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein's prolific history of sex crimes against women in the film industry.

The pacing of the movie and the way its newsroom sequences in the New York Times are shot by Schrader and her cinematographer Natasha Braier specifically recall Pakula's movie.

But you also cannot helping thinking of Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as Woodward and Bernstein when you see Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan portrayal of Kantor and Twohey whose diligent investigation into the Miramax chief landed them a Pulitzer Prize in 2018.

The same is true for Patricia Clarkson and Andre Braugher's performances as New York Times editor Rebecca Corbett and executive editor Dean Basquet which are reminiscent of Jason Robards and Martin Balsam's depictions of Ben Bradlee and Howard Simons in the 1976 film.

Schrader's movie begins in Ireland in 1992 with a montage of Lola Petticrew's Laura Madden stumbling upon a film set while walking her dog.

In the montage we see her become a runner on the set before the tone shifts and we see her sprinting down a London street in a state of distress.

Fast forward to 2016 and Mulligan's Megan Twohey has been working on a story that threatens to derail Donald Trump's bid for the White House.

The story about him sexually assaulting a contestant at the Miss USA beauty pageant is one of several all alleging a history of sexual misconduct towards women by the Republican Presidential hopeful.

As her husband Tom Pelphrey's Jim Rutman looks on, Twohey receives a phone call in her kitchen from Trump - brilliantly mimicked by James Austin Johnson - who vigorously denies the allegation.

The partisan nature of the US media is such that Fox News and its primetime host Bill O'Reilly choose not to focus on the claim but on whether Twohey is a liberal feminist with an agenda.

The irony of all of this is rammed home not long afterwards when we see the entire New York Times newsroom glued to TV screens as news breaks about Fox has axed O'Reilly following revelations of sexual misconduct.

Fox, as anyone who saw 'Bombshell' and Showtime's 'The Loudest Voice' will tell you, was also beset with a scandal around the behaviour of its boss Roger Ailes.

Heavily pregnant, Twohey becomes disillusioned when Trump withstands multiple claims of sexual harassment and assault and defeats Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

Twohey also struggles with post natal depression after the birth of her child.

Kazan's Kantor, meanwhile, has her eyes on Hollywood and begins to probe claims of sexual assault in the film industry after hearing the actress Rose McGowan was a victim.

Encouraged by her editor Clarkson's Rebecca Corbett to chase the story, she phones McGowan, voiced by Keilly McQuail, but her approach for comment is immediately rebuffed by the actress because she doesn't believe the New York Times has in the past treated her concerns seriously.

McGowan does a U-turn and phones Kantor back, describing how she was raped by Weinstein in a hotel when she was 23.

With Ashley Judd and Gwyneth Paltrow also talking off the record about being assaulted by him, it is clear that many prominent stars are too afraid to speak out about their experiences because of possible damage to their careers.

Needing help with her investigation, Kantor turns for Twohey for advice who is uncertain if the public really cares about powerful men abusing women following the Trump victory.

On her return from maternity leave, Twohey is reluctantly talked into teaming up with Kantor by her editor and immediately gets wind of a former Miramax employee who worked as an assistant to Weinstein and then mysteriously dropped off the radar two decades ago.

Tracking her down to her mum's house in Queens, it is clear the woman wishes she could talk about her ordeal but is bound by a gagging order in a financial settlement with Weinstein.

This sets Twohey and Kantor off on a hunt to find out how many women had gagging orders imposed on them in financial settlements with Weinstein and how much his colleagues in the industry knew about his crimes.

Like 'All the President's Men,' Steven Spielberg's 'The Post' and 'Spotight,' 'She Said' pays tribute to the resilience and diligence of investigative reporters in their pursuit of truth.

It marches to a beat that Pakula's Oscar winning movie set, with its heroines relentlessly pursuing the truth, facing rejection, grabbing morsels of information in phone calls and off the record chats, building trust and bravely enduring and resisting legal and personal threats.

Working from a well crafted script by Rebecca Lenkiewicz, 'She Said' knows it's story is strong and compelling.

But the fresh twist Schrader's film brings to the 'All the President's Men' formula is its strong female perspective.

This is a film for men and women made by women about what has happened to women in loads of workplaces.

And it is essential viewing.

Schrader, who is best known for winning an Emmy for her work on Netflix's series 'Unorthodox,' plays a pretty straight bat in the way she directs the film.

There will and there certainly have been flashier movies this year but the German delivers a tight, pacy journalism thriller that satisfies all requirements.

An actress by trade, she knows how to coax good performances out of her entire cast.

Mulligan and Kazan are engaging leads in the mould of Redford and Hoffman - the latter, in particular, delivering the best performance so far of her career.

They are so good, it would be disappointing if they were overlooked during awards season.

Clarkson and Braugher are good value too as their bosses.

Mike Houston provides the right amount of menace as the voice of Weinstein who we hear at several points in phone calls but only see once from behind.

But it the performances of those playing the women without power whose careers were destroyed that leave the biggest impression - particularly Samantha Morton and Molly Windsor as the older and younger Zelda Perkins, Angela Yeoh as Rowena Chiu and Jennifer Ehle and Lola Petticrew as the older and younger versions of Laura Madden.

Morton and Ehle also have a strong claim for awards season recognition, while Tom Pelphrey and Adam Shapiro as Twohey and Kantor's husbands provide solid support.

Ashley Judd impressively plays herself, enabling her to tell her story about how Weinstein destroyed her career directly to the audience.

Justice was done in 2020 when Weinstein was convicted of rape and sexual assault in New York.

He currently resides in Wende Correctional Facility in Erie County and faces trials in Los Angeles and also the UK.

But it is still staggering that 82 women have come forward with allegations about him since Kantor and Twohey's investigation.

And that begs the question: how much were his colleagues complicit?

Peter Friedman and Zach Grenier turn in excellent performances as Weinstein's lawyer and lobbyist Lanny Davis and the Miramax executive Irwin Reiter.

Those performances, however, land how toxic the "see no evil, hear no evil" corporate culture is and how it allows workplace abusers to thrive.

Schrader and Lenkiewicz's deliberate decision not to recreate Weinstein's amoral behaviour but instead refer frequently to it makes it a suitable companion piece to Kitty Greene's powerful #MeToo drama 'The Assistant'.

And it should hopefully encourage further debate about abuse in the workplace.

The film raises vital questions about abuses of power by some men not just in the movie industry but Silicon Valley, politics and other sectors and the consequences of others turning a blind eye.

It should be seen by men and women - particularly younger generations - as a public service.

There has been some dismay and, on Weinstein's part, some gloating about the disappointing box office of 'She Said' in North America.

That underwhelming performance, though, shouldn't surprise.

A #MeToo film, unfortunately, was always going to have a niche audience with the bulk of cinemagoers preferring escapism.

But it is also a result of a post pandemic release strategy that went for an immediate release for 'She Said' in 2,000 cinemas instead of the tried and tested practice of building the film's profile up through staggered distribution and word of mouth.

Pitched against 'Black Panther: Wakanda Forever' and 'The Menu,' it was always going to be dwarfed.

None of that, however, should detract from a film that treats its subject matter with the seriousness it deserves and does it very well.

And with a little luck and some love during awards season, it might find an audience during awards season.

Let's hope it does - just so it sticks in Weinstein's craw.

Sensitive, brave and impressively acted, 'She Said' may not be the most technically breathtaking movie this year.

But it is certainly one of the most important and it deserves your support.

You only have to listen to the Ronan Farrow acquired tape of Weinstein harassing as aspiring actress and model to appreciate why.

('She Said' was released in UK and Irish cinemas on October 25, 2022)

Pomona for Facebook

Search This Blog

THE RECKONING (SHE SAID)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A FAMILY DIVIDED (KIN, SEASON TWO)

FATHER TIME (FRASIER - REBOOT, SEASON ONE)

TWO SOULS COLLIDE (BALLYWALTER)