Anna Kendrick's Woman of the Hour: A Promising Debut with Some Serious Growing Pains!
Woman of the Hour: A True Story That Almost Works
Academy Award-nominated actress Anna Kendrick takes on directing and starring in her debut film, Woman of the Hour. The movie, which premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival, tackles a tragic true story: Cheryl Bradshaw's (played by Kendrick herself) near-fatal encounter with serial killer Rodney Alcala on The Dating Game. While the premise is captivating and filled with potential – exploring a young woman's dreams in 1970s Hollywood colliding with the horrifying reality of Alcala's killing spree – the final result unfortunately doesn’t completely deliver.
The film follows Cheryl as she navigates the ups and downs of trying to make it in Los Angeles, experiencing some of the hardships and uncertainties around struggling to achieve success; showing her perspective while occasionally weaving in Alcala's storyline to establish those crucial points for generating greater understanding around those unfortunate events. However, there are significant issues impacting this feature, that prevents a better film overall.
Tonal Imbalance and Editing Issues: Where Woman of the Hour Falters
Kendrick's film suffers from a severe case of tonal whiplash. Right from the start, those shifting perspectives (Kendrick’s Cheryl and Alcala's interactions); it feels chaotic and this jarring tonal shifts are pretty frequent throughout the entire experience and the editing choices made here don’t exactly help create a smoother experience! The moments and various experiences presented would need stronger connections. There’s very little attempt at conveying these nuances. Those shifting scenes go from humorous to horrifically disturbing really quickly; without adequately setting expectations before the jarring shifts happen.
The editing also creates further issues. It is easy to see why this kind of approach was attempted and attempted for various reasons: exploring those very distinct yet completely interwoven parallel plotlines needed separate attention. Yet that haphazard, irregular approach made the editing particularly ineffective. When juxtaposing Alcala's violence against those more lighthearted Dating Game scenes–which are present purely for comedic value and for generating entertainment in those very brief segments; those contrasting moments simply didn't mesh at all. They clashed jarringly.
Kendrick’s Strengths: Behind and In Front of the Camera
Despite these flaws, Kendrick's talents still really shone through, highlighting several specific areas where this project exceeded, far beyond the obvious technical shortcomings. Her directorial skill definitely shows promising things: clever camera angles and well-planned shots perfectly create that dramatic transition; the shifting tone between optimism and devastation– something which perfectly matches this incredibly dramatic and disturbing story arc.
And let's not forget her acting! Kendrick is completely fantastic. Her portrayal of Cheryl was captivating; and made it really easy for audience members to both connect with this character, especially on an emotional level; the empathy evoked created a connection to a story otherwise quite distant from some audience members. She's compelling, vulnerable – yet still holds the potential to help shape how audiences perceive those aspects within those stories!
Missed Opportunities and What Could Have Been
While there is so much good to love; including the overall premise of the project itself, those missed chances; these particular aspects make this promising debut a slightly frustrating viewing experience: There wasn't nearly enough depth and a proper exploration of societal attitudes toward dating in the 1970s–and its different impacts on men and women, is something greatly missing here; a crucial insight largely unexamined! Additionally, this movie presents no major insightful discussions on policing issues surrounding this specific tragic situation; those issues which remain sadly overlooked remain so only through this creative omission, creating only a surface-level account, completely ignoring other opportunities and deeper critical analysis for those people affected.
Conclusion: A Film Worth Watching Despite Its Flaws
Woman of the Hour isn't perfect; yet Kendrick is quite an amazing performer and shows considerable skill in directing – those skills suggest she is likely to generate much larger productions in future work. However, this overall cinematic approach; those specific artistic choices; the lack of proper critical analysis creates only a mixed bag. However, it does make it entertaining despite obvious faults! Kendrick’s star power should generate substantial attention – making it worth watching – especially because the core concept makes it impossible to not care.
