Woman of the Hour
I feel as though the amount of time an actor working behind the camera for the first time allows their co-stars to share (or take) the spotlight (if they are also starring in the film) is an important measure to how they are as a director. By that metric, Anna Kendrick is a damn good filmmaker, and by any other metric, as well. “Woman of the Hour” is the work of a woman who’s seen how women are valued by men, and found a story that illustrates a lot of what she wants to say in an unexpected, and alternately awful and entertaining, way.
In her onscreen role, Kendrick plays Cheryl, a struggling actress in 1970s Hollywood who is trying to get her big break, but the auditions are less than inspiring. One day, her agent says she’s been hired to be on “The Dating Game”; while not the type of job she’s looking for, she agrees to it, not knowing that one of the bachelors is actually a serial killer whom we’ve seen prey on women throughout the film.
What makes “Woman of the Hour” so unreal is that this is actually a true story. The bachelor, Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovetto in an unnerving performance), really did murder a dozen women (although law enforcement speculation says the number could be over 100), and amazingly, it was not until a year after Rodney’s appearance on “The Dating Game” that he was caught for the first time. Cheryl was not one of his victims, however, but her being put in the possibility of being one gets to the heart of what Kendrick and screenwriter Ian McDonald are looking to say in this film. This is a film about how predatory and abusive men are allowed to go about their lives, all while women who report them are ignored and dismissed. Throughout the film, we watch Rodney with other women, and we recognize what he is, but he’s able to charm himself into these situations every time, even on “The Dating Game.” We don’t see the process with which he was selected to be one of the bachelors, but we watch as he sets himself apart from the other two both in the audience’s eyes, and Cheryl’s. It’s quite a performance on his part that- to us- feels quite transparently like a performance; he knows the answers he needs to give to impress Cheryl, and more importantly, recognizes his competitors’s weaknesses. It’s a credit to one man in this film- ironically, the biggest dickhead apart from Rodney- who cautions Cheryl after she’s made her pick. As we see her and Rodney together afterwards, we see her very much on high alert with him. Her choices afterwards make all the sense in the world.
Kendrick hasn’t really been in a lot of out and out thrillers in her career, but she has a great understanding of being able to build tension and release suspense from sequence to sequence. On “The Dating Game” set, however, we see that she is allowing Cheryl to have some fun, to turn on her charm. For her, “The Dating Game” is a performance, as well; she takes the chance to be seen by a large public and runs with it, and it allows Kendrick to give herself an opportunity to be her bubbly, intelligent self in the most entertaining sequence of the film. All the while, as a filmmaker, she is building the tension, especially when a woman in the crowd recognizes Rodney, and tries to warn the producers. Unfortunately, her pleas are cast aside because they’re detrimental to the structure of how things go, and women’s concerns are not taken seriously. It’s a deflating moment that is only offset by how Cheryl handles her interactions with Rodney.
Throughout the film, we watch Rodney’s interactions with some of his victims, both before- and after- “The Dating Game” appearance. As we watch the back half of the one with a blonde drifter in 1979 unfold, we find there is more to this one than meets the eye. As with Cheryl, she stands her ground with Rodney, and he finally gets what’s coming to him. It makes for a satisfying, and gripping, ending to the film. “Woman of the Hour” has terrific production values, especially art direction, cinematography (by Zach Kuperstein), and a great score by Dan Romero and Mike Ticcillo, but it excels because of thought and compassion Kendrick puts into the story for these women, and gratitude for the ones who saw right through Rodney’s act.
