She Said
★★★ ½
It's hard to temper enthusiasm for a film when the importance of the subject matter outweighs the execution of a storyline. Is She Said one of the best movies about journalists? No, but, it depicts a pivotal moment in the #MeToo movement with care and balanced seriousness.
Being a reporter is not a glamorous profession. It's hard to depict the difficulty of researching and writing and director Maria Schrader doesn't shy away from the blandness of the job. It's both what I liked about the movie, but what holds it back from being cinematically emotional. There are some moments where Schrader takes some chances (panning shots of empty bedrooms accompanied by voiceover of Harvey Weinstein's victims) that really pay off. I wish She Said would have been filled with more artistic choices like these.
I enjoyed the dynamics between Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan because it shows how two employees can work together without necessarily being the best of friends (which in most cases, is realistic). Mulligan seems to play the bad cop to Kazan's good cop persona, but you can see how the two different approaches to reporting really worked in tandem with their story. I also appreciated how Schrader handled the portrayal of the celebrities in this film. It could have been really laughable if done poorly. But this movie gets quite a heft when Ashley Judd plays herself in this film and scores a truly moving movement in the last act.
Even though She Said doesn't quite have the emotional wallop that you would expect, it's a film that should be seen from a historical context. If anything, it shows how difficult it can be for people to believe the truth. It takes a lot of grit and determination to bring these stories to life, and the results can be immeasurable.
