SummaryNew York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor break one of the most important stories in a generation — a story that helped launch the #MeToo movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.
SummaryNew York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor break one of the most important stories in a generation — a story that helped launch the #MeToo movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.
That Weinstein’s downfall was the product of diligent reporting, dogged persistence, and the resilience of a few brave souls is essential to remember. In Maria Schrader’s artful and incendiary She Said, we’re reminded of something else that makes for one hell of a movie: It was women who did it.
“Can I quote you?” As it did throughout Jodi Kantor and Meghan Twohey’s intrepid investigative journalism for the New York Times, that question reverberates in Maria Schrader’s She Said, an understated, polished procedural that chronicles the way two reporters exposed Hollywood mega-producer Harvey Weinstein’s decades of sexual abuse and assault.
Wow. I read both the negative and positive reviews and noted the very personal reactions to this film I hoped that reviews on this site were based on objectivity assessing the film as a cinematic work and not on the reviewers' opinion of women in this situation. "Triumph of the Will" is generally considered a great cinematic work despite glorifying the Third Reich. Forget that the director was a woman. "She Said" portrays the plight of these women without exploiting the situation and shows what they were up against. And apparently still are. See it with an open mind.
While the pace is occasionally glacial and the screenplay indulges in any number of journalism-movie tropes, and She Said is not in the same league as those aforementioned classics, it is nonetheless a solid and straightforward telling, with Carey Mulligan (as Twohey) and Zoe Kazan (as Kantor) doing authentic and finely calibrated work.
It’s all tasteful and non-sensationalist in approach. However, some will mistake an important topic for great filmmaking. Schrader’s film relies more on the former than displaying the latter.
A riveting film, beautifully acted, about the fall of movie producer Harvey Weinstein who held the fate of so many actresses in his hands and took full advantage of his power.
Just as 'Spotlight,' 'She Said" dissects a real journalistic investigation to give insight into how, in this case, Harvey Weinstein was taken down. But unlike the Academy Award-winning film, this one barely touches upon the personal struggle of its protagonists. Yes, this is a story about women trying to do some good for other women — sorority is a theme director Maria Schrader tries to permeate the entire movie with — but the lack of a more solid internal conflict makes you wonder why this wasn't turned into a documentary. The plot tries to incorporate the struggle of motherhood into the story, but the theme is forgotten very soon.
'She Said' respects the victims and their suffering and reminds us why it's so hard for them to come forward. Still, the lack of tension and the strange mix of real people portraying themselves and stand-ins doesn't let you fully immerse into this harrowing drama about exposing sexual misconduct in workplaces. The recent 'The Assistant' and its minimal approach results in something more striking that shows instead of telling. Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad film, but in my opinion, a documentary would suit the story better.
The urgency of the subject matter it presents will no doubt cause many to turn their faces away from the more blatant defects of this drama, because it certainly tries, but I'm sorry, this ain't All the President's Men.
She Said is more interested in reminding you that the women involved were very brave - which is never in doubt - as it goes through a myriad of irrelevant scenes, such as the constant back and forth in cars and trains while the lead actresses pretend to be typing, because as I mentioned, its creators believe that the exposition of the theme is above how it is presented in narrative form.
Perhaps that's indifferent to many people, but I think Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor's investigative and journalistic work deserved more than a basic cinematic treatment that is more interested in positioning itself as an awards season contender, rather than a crucial and informative film about the situation at the time and that clearly played a pivotal role in the now-known aftermath of Harvey Weinstein's fate.
And in the end, it does not have any real repercussions within the system when we have the knowledge that this was well known by the industry, and it is known that it continues to happen with those who protect these people.
Weinstein fell because there was a lot to hide, because there were people that investigated and because maybe he wasn't as powerful as he thought to make all the research go away, but in the meantime who judges the enablers?
She Said isn't a bad movie, but it's nothing more than a simple recreation of something you could basically be reading on Wikipedia.
The most unnecessary film of the year!
I guess pretty much everyone already knew the details of this case and its dramatization added zilch to the whole story. On another note, the overuse of music besides the annoyingly monotonous and predictable flow of the script made the experience of watching this film all the more unpleasant.