Review | Woman of the Hour is a wonderfully different serial killer film from actress Anna Kendrick

Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut insightfully shows the middle finger to true crime drugs and the glorification of psychopaths. Instead of the murderer, Woman of the Hour focuses on the victims and the position of women.

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Premiere: 29/11/2024
Alkuperäisnimi: Woman of the Hour
Directed by: Anna Kendrick
Manuscript: Ian MacAllister McDonald
Starring: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Tony Hale & Jedidiah Goodacre
Length: 95 minutes
Age limit: K12

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Actor Anna Kendrickin had its world premiere at the fall 2023 Toronto Film Festival Woman of the Hour -first directorial finally arrives on Finnish screens as well.

But better late than never, because in many countries the film ended up directly on Netflix instead of theatrical distribution.

Woman of the Hour is a cleverly different serial killer thriller based on true events. Instead of the actions of a sick man, it focuses on the position, treatment and honest misogyny of a woman in the present day and through a story set in the 1970s.

Kendrick and the screenwriter Ian MacAllister McDonaldin the film also shows the middle finger to the true crime drug and especially to Netflix’s endlessly drawn-out documentaries and series that often glorify criminals far too much.

Compact, just over 90 minutes long, episodic and jumping forward again in time, Woman of the Hour holds quite a lot of information. Rodney Alcala -about the gruesome acts of a serial killer throughout the 1970s.

Less is more

In Anna Kendrick’s film, among others, HBO’s excellent Station Eleven familiar from the series Daniel Zovatton the person shown is not the main character. The movie builds its story around The Dating Game, a TV quiz game reminiscent of Napakymppi, in which Alcala participated in the middle of his murder spree.

Cheryl, played by Kendrick herself, is desperately trying to make a living as an actress. Lacking decent jobs, he ends up taking part in a dating program, which is won by a smooth-talking, smart and charming murderer.

The filming of the live TV broadcast is partially deliberately camp, but the speed dating between the two immediately following is anything but.

Kendrick shows an extremely haunting scene, as do the eyes of the women and victims in his flashbacks. The director and screenwriter also cleverly follow the principle of less is more in violent scenes. The horrors made by Alcala are truly haunting with the help of sound design and inventive angles. The movie contains almost no graphic violence.

Alcala, who had mainly raped and murdered young women since the end of the 1960s, participated in a prank in 1978, as a result of which he was by no means caught. He was only sentenced in the mid-1980s for the murder of seven women. In 2021, a man who died of a heart attack in the castle apparently murdered around 130 people.

A fear familiar to all women

In her directorial debut, Anna Kendrick mixes thriller, crime drama and horror to mock the sexist production machinery of 1970s Hollywood and the obnoxious double-minded pop banter. Regardless of the time, place or style, the most important element of the movie is the horror felt by all women and the knowledge that men like Rodney Alcala exist.

The script cleverly straightens out the twists and turns of the real-life case, because in addition to the events of The Dating Game, the murderer’s atrocities are presented through only three of his victims. From the very first scene, the sadistic, cruel psychopath in question becomes unusually clear.

Daniel Zovatto shines as the charming Alcala. The handsome and handsome, but very suspicious hunk gets away like a dog from the fence time and time again, mainly thanks to other men deliberately looking the other way. “I guess he’s not such a bad guy, though…” mentality is still commonplace.

In the first scene, the director shows the world through the eyes of a man, but only through the lens of a camera worn around his neck. The monster lured many of its victims with it by posing as a professional photographer.

The position of women throughout time

Daniel Zovatto makes Alcala a frighteningly genuine soul. The man is initially extremely sympathetic, empathetic and even tender to all his victims. Even one offhand word makes the look change. The resuscitation following the lifeless strangulation of the opening scene before the rape and murder is gruesome to watch.

Motion picture cameraman Zach Kupersteinin the camera captures the horrors both in the desert and under the bright sun of Los Angeles or in deserted parking lots in the dark of night elegantly. Often, for example, only the woman’s hands clenched into fists can be seen in the picture. On the other hand, limiting extreme violence to the outside of the picture makes the atrocities even more gruesome.

The humorous mockery of the completely sexist program The Dating Game, which is at the center of the movie, is perfectly balanced with the other parts of the movie. In 1970s Hollywood, a woman’s function is only to look pretty and smile, whose program host (Tony Hale) says to Sheryl, played by Kendrick, directly.

According to him, a smart woman is too scary for male competitors.

In the middle stages, Woman of the Hour turns into a comedy when Sheryl decides to drag the live program to a standstill. He abandons the ready-made questions and starts to inquire from the visitors, happily smiling about the difficult ones. The only one who can answer difficult questions smartly with years of experience is of course the Alcala psychopath.

Pure evil

The stupidity of the other two participants is laughable, although at this point the viewer of course already knows that the only sharp competitor is a sadistic monster.

The murders are creepy, but the movie’s closest thing to horror is the prank in the next scene. Sheryl and Alcala go for a drink. The actress realizes that she is dealing with pure evil before the victims.

Woman of the Hour is full of talented actors. Every supporting character feels like a real person. The best smaller roles are played by a woman who recognizes a murderer sitting in the audience of a quiz show Nicolette Robinson and portraying a young victim Autumn Best.

The character of Best, who is running away from home, is based on real life Monique Hoytiinwhich turns the murderer’s weapons against himself. Satisfyingly, it is no more difficult than using the same means as the kahjo itself. Manipulation with desires, lusts and insecurities also works in the other direction.

In her directorial debut, Anna Kendrick moves effortlessly from one mood to another. Thanks to his inventive angles and compositions, even the funniest scenes in the film have an unnervingly menacing undertone. The Los Angeles of the past world of the film, which was mainly shot in Vancouver, is also believably staged.

The idea behind the whole movie is summed up by a woman who has worked as a make-up artist for The Dating Game for almost 20 years. He tells Sheryl that it’s one and the same that he inquires about from the Bachelor contestants. The most important question, both in gambling and in real life, is:

“Which one of them wants to hurt me?”.

Unfortunately, that is also true today.

Woman of the Hour is a convincing directorial debut and one of the best serial killer films of recent years.

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WOMAN OF THE HOUR

“Anna Kendrick’s original and different true crime film puts the position of women and the still prevailing culture of silence in the center instead of a pitiful psychopathic man.”