2020-04-01_Total_Film

W

hile sexual harassment and misogyny have

been rife in the movie industry for decades,

documentarian Kitty Green’s first foray

into fiction comes at a time when abusive

behaviour has never been more in the spotlight. Detailing

a day in the life of an assistant working for a successful

movie mogul, Green shies away from plot twists and

dramatic incident in favour of a studied, tragic realism.

a pivotal, compelling scene with a

mesmerising Matthew Macfadyen, it’s

the power of Garner’s understated

central performance that successfully

steers the film through some extremely

sensitive areas.

With its slow, deliberate pace and

a focus on Jane’s mundane activities

setting a rather bleak tone, The Assistant

offers a marked contrast to the

dynamism of recent #MeToo movie

Bombshell. Arguably, Green achieves

something equally effective with her

approach. She ramps up a sense of both

helplessness and insidiousness to

expose not just sexual predators in

showbiz, but the miserable complicity

that surrounds them. The result is less

an uncomfortable statement of truth

than a persuasive call for everyone to

do better. Matt Looker

The film follows Jane (Julia Garner),

a dedicated but put-upon employee

who works around the clock fulfilling

various menial tasks while dealing with

aggressive bullying from her boss and

casual sexism from her colleagues. As

she starts to suspect that women are

falling victim to horrific abuses of

power behind closed doors, Jane finds

herself trapped in an environment

built on turning a blind eye.

In a supporting line-up of mostly

male douchebags, the secondary female

roles are split between naïve hopefuls

and jaded workers. However, save for

CERTIFICATE    DIRECTORKi

yGreen

STARRINGJuliaGarnerMa

hewMacfadyen

MakenzieLeighKristineFroseth

SCREENPLAYKi

yGreenDISTRIBUTOR

VertigoReleasingRUNNINGTIMEmins

THE

ASSISTANT

Horrible bosses...

COMING SOON

THE VERDICT

Garner is superb in a timely, weighty

workplace drama that steers clear

of sensationalism.

SECOND SPRING

OUT 3 APRIL

Director Andy Kelleher’s poignant

yet remote debut is a no-budget

piece about a woman whose

memories and inhibitions fade

as she develops dementia. Cathy

Naden gives a steady performance

as Kathy, a married history

teacher who begins forgetting

things and embarks on an affair

with a charmingly rugged

boatman, warmly played by Jerry

Killick. While themes of change,

progress and the loss of personal/

public histories underpin Martin

Herron’s script, the mix of

static, scenic images with a

scrupulous emotional reserve

results in a drama that’s

respectable rather than actively

engaging. Kevin Harley

THE

WHALEBONE BOX

OUT 3 APRIL

Andrew Kötting follows 2017’s

Edith Walks with another esoteric

journey. This time, he’s returning

the titular receptacle to the

Hebridean beach upon which the

unfortunate whale washed up 30

years before. Filmed using a Super

8 app that gives its mobile-phone

footage an earthy, tactile quality,

this micro-budget doc is

captivatingly eerie in places: a

haunting soundtrack of siren calls,

percussive sounds, snippets of

movie dialogue and scattered

voiceover suggest the box’s

strange energies are somehow

seeping into the film. It’s typically

confounding, too. Chris Schilling

Inthesoul-crushinglybleakand

mundaneofficeenvironmentthe

speakingclockwasJane’sonlyfriend

VER

TIG

O^ R

ELE

ASI

NG

,^ H

OM

E^ A

RTI

ST^

FIL

M,^

MIR

ACL

E^ C

OM

MS

,^ W

ARN

ER^

BR

OS,

PA

RK^

CIR

CUS

,^ VE

RV

E^ P

ICT

URE

S

SUBSCRIBEATWWWTOTALFILMCOM/SUBS

THE WORLD’S MOST TRUSTED REVIEWS



TOTAL FILM | APRIL 2020