She Said is a quiet thriller that speaks volumes. In October of 2017, New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor broke one of the most important stories in a generation. Harvey Weinstein, one of the most powerful men in Hollywood, who made films that made millions at the box office and received dozens of Oscar nominations and three Best Picture wins, was a serial sexual predator whose abuses were covered up by his studio with hush money payments.
She Said concentrates on process, prioritizing the patient accretion of testimony and corroboration. It doesn’t frame women in a spiral of violence they can’t escape, instead, gives them perspective through collective reflection.
The film details a triumph of journalistic sympathy and precision. What will become of the real-world movement this reporting kindled?
Time will tell. The film pulses with emotional and social depth, and given that She Said is a familiar story, it’s remarkable it can still be insightful and surprising.
Moonrise Kingdom
In Moonrise Kingdom, writer/director Wes Anderson is on form with a charming tale about two unpopular kids who fall in love and run away. It immediately becomes more than a series of events and is transformed into a world with its own rules, in which everything is driven by emotions and desires as convincing as they are magical.
Few things in life are more urgent and transcendent than a pre-teen romance embarked upon at a time before sexual desire has crystallized beyond a vague curiosity and “love” is a term for which true meaning remains elusive. Sam (Jared Gilman) and Suzy (Kara Hayward) are whip-smart and headstrong. In each other, however, they have found a soulmate, so they do what soulmates often do: run away together.
There is elegance and formal brilliance in the film, as well as a lot of gentle, winning comedy. While many of Anderson’s films come from the head; Moonrise Kingdom is one from the heart. Warm, whimsical, and poignant, the immaculately framed and beautifully acted Moonrise Kingdom presents Anderson at his idiosyncratic best.
M3GAN
Many comparisons have been and will be made between M3GAN (an acronym for Model 3 Generative Android) and Chucky from Child’s Play. Their motivations are different, however: Chucky’s boy Andy was a victim of his doll as much as anyone else, while M3GAN is fiercely protective of her girl, nine-year-old Cady (Violet McGraw).
The film nails an American girl meets American psycho vibe that accentuates an automaton’s binary, soulless assessment of humankind’s follies while still finding time for memeable horror entertainment. Unapologetically silly and all the more entertaining for it, M3GAN is the rare horror-comedy that delivers chuckles as effortlessly as chills.
The film’s aim is to be a cautionary tale about our 21st-century obsession with technology through the eyes of a career woman thrust into motherhood not by choice, but fate. Ultimately, this is a film that effortlessly entertains as a sassy techno-horror satire teetering between M3GAN's villainous manipulation, the emotional fragility at stake, and exquisite killer doll frights. It’s an enjoyable horror-lite romp: knowing, amusing and not too scary.
Moonrise Kingdom, rated PG, plays at the Patricia Theatre at 7 pm on February 14. Running time is one hour, 34 minutes.
M3GAN, rated 14A, plays at the Patricia Theatre at 7 pm from February 10 to 13. Running time is one hour, 56 minutes.
She Said, rated PG, plays at the Patricia Theatre on February 15 and 16 at 7 pm, and at 1:30 pm on February 16. Running time is two hours and nine minutes.
Gary Shilling is executive director of qathet Film Society.
