Expecting the general make-up of Kendrick’s first flick Woman of the Hour to conform with others of the same genre, typically featuring a behind-the-scenes of the killer’s life and stomach-churning gore, I was pleasantly surprised to see a different focus.
The film is set in the 1970s, with the main bulk following failing actress Sheryl Bradshaw (Anna Kendrick), who lands a last-minute job on a dating show, “The Dating Game”. Throughout her narrative, there are time jumps showing various women placing trust in killer Rodney Alcala, (chillingly portrayed by Daniel Zovatto), before being brutally raped and murdered. Cutting back to the dating show, we see one of the contestants is revealed to be Alcala himself, taking a somewhat more gentlemanly persona to win over Sheryl.
After a series of unsettling events, we cut to another victim’s story, a young runaway named Amy and are shown how she bravely manages to escape Alcala. A postscript distressingly gives further details into Alcala’s story, with societal misogyny enabling him take up to 130 lives before being stopped, as reports made were swept under the rug.
Kendrick’s first production as the head honcho is a hard-hitting ode to the lost voice of victims
Whilst receiving overall approval, Woman of the Hour has had some criticism, detailing how the plot lacked cohesion, with the film having too many time jumps. Though I agree that sometimes it was a little tricky to be fully immersed in certain scenes due to these flashes, I do not feel that this took away from the film. The structure was well thought out, as the real-life accounts of the victims weren’t forced into the static structure of a fictional narrative. Films based on true events do this too often, conditioning audiences to expect this in all movies of the genre, therefore it was refreshing to see a more realistic depiction.
Leaning towards the sorrow for those brutalised by Alcala rather than suspense, we also don’t receive any glance into Alcala’s backstory, reinforcing Kendrick’s emphasis on the victims rather than the killer. This justly creates a remarkable platform to allow the stories of Alcala’s victims to be in the spotlight rather than his own narrative. I particularly like how the story is not treated as one of fiction being shaped to tick boxes in entertainment factor or narrative structure.
As well as a more realistic structure, the film includes hugely emotive performances, specifically from all those cast as Alcala’s victims, namely Autumn Best, who played Amy, and Nicole Robinson, who portrayed a victim’s friend, Laura. All in all, Kendrick’s first production as the head honcho is a hard-hitting ode to the lost voice of victims, straying from the genre’s typical focus on the destroyer rather than the lives destroyed.
