The Assistant

Bleecker Street | Release Date: January 31, 2020

5.3	USER SCORE Mixed or average reviews based on 91 Ratings

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User Reviews

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John935Jul 6, 2020

This little indie film surprised me in a good way. I like to be surprised in a good way! It's low-key. There is drama but that's kind of subdued. Julia Garner is wonderful. No guarantee but put on your thinking cap and you just might find itThis little indie film surprised me in a good way. I like to be surprised in a good way! It's low-key. There is drama but that's kind of subdued. Julia Garner is wonderful. No guarantee but put on your thinking cap and you just might find it interesting and different.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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TVJerryFeb 23, 2020

This is the first starring vehicle for Julia Garner, who's best known as the plucky blonde trailer trash from Ozark. She plays the assistant to a film executive who slogs thru a day at work fielding calls, making photocopies, fetching foodThis is the first starring vehicle for Julia Garner, who's best known as the plucky blonde trailer trash from Ozark. She plays the assistant to a film executive who slogs thru a day at work fielding calls, making photocopies, fetching food and other menial duties…all this while being ignored or abused by everyone around her. Her gradual disgust with her boss's licentiousness leaves her with a crisis of conscience..albeit rather low key. Garner does a wonderful job of underplaying her character's distress and disgust. Writer/director Kitty Green (whose only other feature is Casting JonBenét) shows an appreciation for the subtlety of sexism and the pressures of success. While it does take place almost entirely in one office on one day, the film still offers an interesting insight into a character coping with toxic work environment.… Expand

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

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OldGoatJun 25, 2020

Great little movie. Fine acting. A tragedy of humble person with the heart in right place, helpless in front of terrors and injustice. Evil may prevail even if good men are speaking.

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

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katezoeMay 14, 2020

Taking place over one workday, “The Assistant” examines the way everyday slights turn into a horror show of work place harassment. Julia Garner gives a wonderful performance.

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

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matthewmirlianiFeb 20, 2020

Understated and characterized by frightening realism, The Assistant is a tense, atmospheric, and crucial film that highlights patriarchal toxicity in the workplace and brilliantly places the experience of the victim (and not the perpetrator)Understated and characterized by frightening realism, The Assistant is a tense, atmospheric, and crucial film that highlights patriarchal toxicity in the workplace and brilliantly places the experience of the victim (and not the perpetrator) at the center of the story. It’s an immersive and anxious watch - an important mirror to and a stinging commentary on our times. Julia Garner gives an award-worthy performance, while the overcast cinematography and skilled direction perfectly cultivate a feeling of dystopian dread.… Expand

2 of 7 users found this helpful25

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dpromanoFeb 16, 2022

Anxiety inducing and riveting. Julia Garner is a special talent. The only drawback was the sound editing. Dialogue was difficult to decipher.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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truerockDec 24, 2020

The Assistant is a realest study of an administrative assistant to the head of a media production company. The assistant, played by Julia Garner (Ruth Langmor in Netflix's Ozark)is just out of school for 5 weeks. She went to North WesternThe Assistant is a realest study of an administrative assistant to the head of a media production company. The assistant, played by Julia Garner (Ruth Langmor in Netflix's Ozark)is just out of school for 5 weeks. She went to North Western and had a 3.8 GPA. She is very smart and her boss knows it.

Be warned - this is not for individuals looking for light entertainment. The viewer will only get out of the film what they put into their observational efforts. If you want to park your brain and relax - this is not a film for you.

I have decades of experience in highly competitive corporate environments. I have not read a single review that has any idea what an individual should take from watching this film. There are no answers provided in this work.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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bertobellamyJan 12, 2021

A slow-pace film with the shadow of Harvey Weinstein looming all over it. 'The Assistant' chooses a minimalist approach to show us a day in the life of a female production assistant that witnesses the horrors of working in this industry whenA slow-pace film with the shadow of Harvey Weinstein looming all over it. 'The Assistant' chooses a minimalist approach to show us a day in the life of a female production assistant that witnesses the horrors of working in this industry when bigots are in control. Although there is not much character development, director Kitty Green makes a statement about the cause with two or three powerful scenes.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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Dan_BFeb 27, 2021

(Español / English)

English Abstract Extraordinary day's work portrait of a punctilious assistant to a powerful film producer. An immersion in a work environment of abuse and harassment described with surgical precision, with a great(Español / English)

English Abstract

Extraordinary day's work portrait of a punctilious assistant to a powerful film producer.

An immersion in a work environment of abuse and harassment described with surgical precision, with a great performance by Julia Garner.

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Abstract Español

Extraordinario retrato de un día de trabajo de la puntillosa asistente de un poderoso productor de cine.

Una inmersión en un ambiente tóxico de trabajo descripto con precisión quirúrgica, en un abordaje que torna el tema del acoso y el maltrato laboral en algo tan cotidiano como perturbador y con una gran actuación de Julia Garner

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English Review

We share a day at the work of Jane (Julia Garner), assistant to an important film producer, in a company with a work environment that is becoming abusive and toxic.

This is documentary filmmaker Kitty Green's first fiction film, and you can see that look in this extraordinary film.

It is remarkable how the story immerses us in the routine work of Jane, a young university student, efficient and who gives her all, and how little by little she reveals, almost like in a horror movie, what underlies what she is perceiving. The immersion experience for the viewer in this work reality, first harmless, is total. Our point of view is always that of Jane, which allows a “lateral” look at what is being revealed and also feel with her the mistreatment that she herself suffers or perceives.
Jane brings us reminiscences of Elisabeth Moss's Peggy in Mad Men.

All this Green achieves with his surgical detail as a documentary filmmaker, an absolute elegance in the frames, an intelligent use of medium shots or details and a masterful use of the off-field (see footnote).

Due to all these characteristics and the nature of its protagonist, The Assistant is located in the antipodes of the Hollywood scandal (Bombshell, the well-known "based on real events"), making the approach to the issue of harassment and labor abuse much more daily and disturbing.

Julia Garner does an extraordinary and subtle job, with her lonely Jane who is recording and feeling everything that happens around her, all the time on screen and at work, almost without being able to peek into her private life, speaking little and telling us everything .

SEMISPOILER NOTE: we never see Jane's boss, since he always stays out of the field.

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Reseña Español Espaciada

Compartimos un día de trabajo de Jane (Julia Garner), asistente de un importante productor de cine, en una empresa con un ambiente laboral que se va revelando abusivo y tóxico descripto con precisión quirúrgica. Esta es la primera película de ficción de la documentalista Kitty Green, y se nota esa mirada en este extraordinario film.

Es notable como el relato nos va sumergiendo en la rutinaria cotidianeidad laboral de Jane, una joven universitaria, eficiente y que da todo de sí y cómo de a poco va revelando, casi como en una película de terror, lo que subyace en lo que ella va percibiendo. La experiencia de inmersión para el espectador en esa realidad laboral, primero inofensiva, es total. Nuestro punto de vista es siempre el de Jane, lo que permite una mirada “lateral” de lo que se va revelando y también sentir con ella los maltratos que ella misma sufre o percibe. Jane nos trae reminiscencias de la Peggy de Elisabeth Moss en Mad Men.

Todo esto Green lo logra con su detallismo quirúrgico de documentalista, una elegancia absoluta en los encuadres, un inteligente uso de los planos medios o detalle y un empleo magistral del fuera de campo.(ver nota al pie)

Por todas estas características y la naturaleza de su protagonista, La asistente se ubica en las antípodas de la hollywoodense El escándalo (Bombshell, la consabida “basada en hechos reales”), en un abordaje que torna el tema del acoso y el maltrato laboral mucho más cotidiano y perturbador.
Julia Garner realiza un trabajo extraordinario y sutil, con su solitaria Jane que va registrando y sintiendo todo lo que ocurre a su alrededor, todo el tiempo en pantalla y en su trabajo, casi sin poder asomarnos a su vida privada, hablando poco y diciéndonos todo.

NOTA SEMISPOILER: al jefe de Jane no lo vemos nunca, ya que siempre permanece fuera de campo.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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