The new true-crime film, Woman of The Hour, directed by actress Anna Kendrick, was released on Netflix just this October and quickly made its way to the top of the charts within its first few weeks of streaming. Anna Kendrick, widely known for her role in Pitch Perfect, directed and starred in the film, making it her directorial debut, and an impressive one at that.
Woman of The Hour is a film based on a true, and horrific, story of the serial killer Rodney Alcala during the 1970’s. Throughout the movie, different victims are featured, however, Sheryl Bradshaw (played by Anna Kendrick) and Amy (played by Autumn Best) seemed to be the intended focus; Sheryl Bradshaw is an aspiring actress who appeared on a game show called The Dating Show to gain publicity and coincidentally, chose Rodney Alcala as her winning bachelorette. Meanwhile, Amy was a run-away teenager who got picked up by Alcala and ultimately brought the man to the end of his killing spree.
Anna Kendrick’s involvement undoubtedly played a role in the film’s sudden boom in popularity. While the film was exceptional for a directorial debut, I don’t believe that the film would have risen up the charts as fast as it did had it not featured Anna Kendrick herself. That being said, I’d like to focus more closely on the technical aspects of the film rather than to simply boast the greatness of the movie solely due to the director’s identity.
The film lacked an obvious direction, and the layout of the different storylines was obviously that of an amateur. New storylines would be introduced while abruptly abandoning others midway through the movie without clear reason. Especially confusing was the shift from Sheryl’s storyline to Amy’s. Initially, it seemed like Sheryl was the main character and that her story was intended to end with a plot-twist. However, nearing the end of the film, the focus quickly shifted to Amy and, consequently, made the direction of the narrative unclear.
Despite the confusing narrative, the plot and cinematic elements of the movie make up for it. When I first saw the trailer, the true-crime narrative of the movie immediately grabbed my attention, along with the excellent use of colors and the witty script. While direction of narrative may not be Kendrick’s strong suit in the making of this movie, she certainly has an eye for the visual aspects involved. Scenes throughout the film were beautifully shot and color graded to evoke just the right ambiance, not to mention the way Kendrick showcased a psychological aspect that gave the film its thriller effect. The way she built a certain atmosphere around Rodney’s character using the combination of visuals and soundtrack made the film that much more immersive for the viewers.
Woman of the Hour was quite an impressive first film for the new-time director Anna Kendrick. This talented actress tapped into a new meaning of acting and found a way to explore both sides of the camera and created something that, I believe, was worthwhile. Now the question is, what more can we plan to expect from Miss Kendrick in the future? Will she continue down this path of duality in her films, or will she regress back into what people know and love her for—acting?
