Woman of the Hour (2024)
Directed by: Anna Kendrick
Premise: Based on true events. An aspiring actress (Anna Kendrick) is the contestant on the 1970s television show The Dating Game. One of the bachelors (Daniel Zovatto) is a serial killer.
What Works: Woman of the Hour uses the case of Rodney Alcala to create a critical portrait of relationships between men and women. It’s most obviously predatory on Alcala’s part as he stalks and murders people but Woman of the Hour includes more seemingly innocuous everyday interactions such as the awkward relationship between the aspiring actress and her male neighbor or the way she is treated by casting agents and the way The Dating Game condescended to and fetishized women. It’s a scathing portrait of misogyny that skillfully draws connections between overt violence against women and everyday behaviors. The picture has an interesting approach to the violence. We’re shown enough to understand what’s happening but not so much that we become desensitized to it and the picture builds up to the attacks, establishing these women as more than just victims. In this way, Woman of the Hour is able to be brutal in an efficient and restrained way. The picture has some great performances by Anna Kendrick as The Dating Game contestant Cheryl Bradshaw and Daniel Zovatto as serial killer Rodney Alcala. Kendrick is both star and director and she uses herself well. Kendrick has a petite frame which is used to make her vulnerable. She’s also a high energy screen presence which pays off quite hilariously in the Dating Game taping sequence. Zovatto is frightening as Alcala but he is also smooth enough to convincingly get close to his victims and navigate through society.
What Doesn’t: Woman of the Hour is set in the 1970s and some aspects of the film don’t look quite right. Part of the problem is the digital cinematography. The picture has a slick sheen that’s not in keeping with the analog era and some aspects of Woman of the Hour look a bit fake. The costumes are a little too perfectly cut and smooth and the sets look artificial and unlived-in. The story of Woman of the Hour is told out of sequence. The film dramatizes several of Rodney Alcala’s victims and the narrative leaps all over the timeline; it’s not always clear how various scenes relate to one another. It works out in the end which is designed to incite the viewer’s righteous indignation but the middle of Woman of the Hour has the viewer scrambling to put the pieces together.
Disc extras: Available on Netflix.
Bottom Line: Woman of the Hour is provocative but also very entertaining and makes its point without getting didactic. The narrative organization is a problem but this is an impressive directorial debut by Anna Kendrick.
Episode: #1023 (November 17, 2024)