She Said
Ten Second Review: A broadly sensitive depiction that captures the gravity of the situation, but misses the mark by miss-spending time and overacting.
Based on a true story journalism films are a regular occurrence now. What felt bold and behind the scenes a few years ago now fees played for Oscar nods. These are always important and interesting stories, but they fall prey to not believing the story itself is enough. Over-dramatisation, additional and unfinished storylines, distracting impersonations of famous figures; these are the things that get in the way of good storytelling.
The film focuses on the reporting from The New York Times, and most specifically the work done by Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor in relation to uncovering systemic abuse allegations in Hollywood and most notably against Harvey Weinstein. It follows their journey and how the article came together.
This is a piece of reporting that will go down in history. It was less the match that started the fire and more the grenade that opened the floodgates. The shift in the conversation around abuse of power in the workplace and specifically the treatment of women by men has been an important and hopefully generational move. This films nails the importance and the weight of the work being done by these writers and the wider team at The New York Times.
Where it faulters is in the need to make it feel like a film. I think we see something similar in David Fincher’s Zodiac. It’s obviously a dramatic story but the way it’s dramatised slips into cartoonishness to sell a feeling. In Zodiac you get the feeling it is played for this slight fictionalised style and it works okay stylistically. Here it feels like it negatively affects the overall package.
I don’t know that we need some of the extra embellishments, the copious midnight takeout shots, the sleeping in taxis, the street meetings. It’s not a question of whether it actually happened, it’s a question of if it feels real or played for effect.
Similarly, some of the extra storylines felt really interesting but didn’t reach any fulfilling conclusions so make for full scenes and beautiful shots but leave you with an empty feeling.
This is an important story, and a film I hope as many people as possible see, but I can’t help but feel it suffers from wanting to give as many opportunities for Oscar nods as possible.
