REVIEW: WOMAN OF THE HOUR

4/5

Blind Date

94 Mins. Starring: Anna Kendrick, Daniel Zovatto, Nicolette Robinson, Kathryn Gallagher, Autumn Best, Pete Holmes & Tony Hale. Screenwriter: Ian McDonald. Director: Anna Kendrick. On: Netflix.

Be careful what you swipe for in this modern day, digital dating age, but have no fear in selecting 'Woman Of The Hour' on Netflix when scrolling and looking for your next movie night. Let's face it, the streaming service itself feels like a dating app for movies, when in this dazed and confused online age of passiveness, we can dismiss something, or someone, in the blink of a swipe (we can thank 'Minority Report' for that technology). But that doesn't mean you should pass up on this 'Hour', even with the wealth of streaming shows and other massive movies it has at its disposal, outside its original content. Movies on N are usually met with malaise until the Oscar circuit begins. And this 'Woman' is their best shot at awards season since 'His Three Daughters'.

Anna Kendrick really is the 'Woman Of The Hour', in more ways than one. She is one of Hollywood's brightest stars ('Up In The Air', 'A Simple Favour', the 'Pitch Perfect' series), and we already know how versatile she is when making music with 'Cups'. But here's another note. Not only does Anna act up a storm here, she also makes her directorial debut 'Of The Hour', and maybe the best one since a 'Booksmart' Olivia Wilde. All in the same year, great actor Dev Patel got down to the same sort of business in his Jordan Peele backed 'Monkey Man'. But you only have to see Anna's excitement on seeing her best picture's billboard in Hollywood to see how much this all means. Kendrick is on another level. She's not like us. 

Here she plays Cheryl Bradshaw. An aspiring actress who appears as the woman of the hour on a dating game show aptly titled 'The Dating Game' (the late, great singer Cilla Black did it better), looking more for her 15 minutes of fame than Mr. Right. You know the set-up. Three suitors. A screen. Cue cards full of questions, each cornier than the last, as the skin-crawling responses creep in when confidence think its charm. One take on the question beneath the question illustrates this perfectly. Just another case of Saturday night victim T.V. And further rhyme to the reason that we've often looked the wrong way when lost in finding love. This is one way how they used to do it back in the day. Ending up being everyone's entertainment. Despite it being many young heart's dream to be on shows like this. Much like the dream of being a famous actor or actress. A true crime thriller, yes 'The Dating Game' and all that transpired is real, from a screenplay penned by Ian McDonald, 'Woman Of The Hour' isn't just a slice of serial killer history for those mind-hunting shows of that nature. It's also a cautionary tale to not believe everything you see online.

Kendrick kills is. Even though that really is the wrong way to put it. The real killer inside will truly scare and sicken you. Horror actor Daniel Zovatto (in full 'Zodiac' mode, if that murderer was made), follows the likes of  'Don't Breathe', 'Beneath' and 'It Follows' with something so frustratingly frightening, as you just want him to be caught and get his comeuppance. The 'Penny Dreadful' protagonist as an actor, especially in this day and age, is in a difficult spot. To convince us he is someone so cruel, that in real life the wrong people will be convinced that the real actor is just as abhorrent. It's just the signs of a great actor...he's probably a sweetheart. But after watching him in this movie, a part of you will never want to see him again. In a strange way, that means he's done his job right. Even if it feels so wrong. Elsewhere, Nicolette Robinson ('The Affair', 'One Night In Miami...') is convinced she's seen contestant number three before. Whilst fellow Broadway star ('Jagged Little Pill') and singer Kathryn Gallagher (lighting up the screen with actual charm) has. 

Credit Kendrick for actually fully fleshing out female characters in an ignorant industry that reduces these co-stars to the margins. No more is this apparent from Anna in the introduction of Autumn Best, who really is, as she steals the show as the real woman of the hour. Giving it her all, she plays Amy, who is based on the real-life Monique Hoyt. A teenager who was smart enough to stay on the killer's good side in order to try and save her own skin. Also making an appearance are comedian Pete Holmes (who has a funny bit about a suspect Springsteen lyric) and a chameleonic, dynamite Tony Hale as the game show host, based on the late, great Jim Lange. A Toronto Film Festival favourite, perfect down to the poster and its seventies soul. This passion project from Kendrick takes hits at all that is systematic in the misogyny and passive reaction to the murder of women, body, spirit and soul. It only takes an hour (and a half), to see that this is one of the best women in movies. No, scratch that, one of the most important people in the industry. Where the spotlight needs to be shined on the shadier sides. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Boston Strangler', 'Zodiac', 'The Killer Inside Me'.