The Assistant Review
R: For some languageRuntime: 1 Hr and 25 MinutesProduction Companies: Symbolic Exchange 3311 ProductionsDistributor: Bleecker StreetDirector: Kitty GreenWriters: Kitty GreenCast: Julia Garner, Matthew Macfadyen, Kristine Froseth, Makenzie Leigh, Noah Robbins, Dagmara Domińczyk, Purva BediRelease Date: January 31, 2020
Jane (Julia Garner) is the assistant of a powerful film exec in a New York film production office. The story follows her daily routine at work, having to be organized, thoroughly responsible, handle accounting work, and his personal affairs. She becomes concerned about a young girl who she assumes to be the sexual target of her predatory boss.
In the #MeToo era where issues regarding sexual abuse and harassment in the workplace are being addressed and vocalized, a few features have been released to cover the subject. Last year we had Bombshell, which I still have mixed feelings about to this day since it was helmed by men who tried too hard to project the harsh female experience in a manner they can’t even dream to comprehend. They aimed for being entertaining and comedic though the subject is nowhere near those two adjectives. Truthfully, it left a bad taste in my mouth and was a poor example of how a feature centering around that topic should be handled. Kitty Green’s directorial feature debut The Assistant is honestly the only way to present this heavy topic. Clearly inspired by the many disgraceful actions of the monstrous Harvey Weinstein, the film puts you in the passenger seat as Jane navigates her job. You feel a constant boiling of your uneasiness with the dialogue and gossip about the boss, plus jokes about him being in a screening room so he can put the moves on a woman. Jane is forced to do nothing but mind her own business and keep it moving. Green unloads all of the tasks Jane has to complete onto you as you feel all of her stress and anxieties of being in the workplace where everyone is either complicit or compliant… or both. As much as you want Jane to call someone out on their rude behavior or careless “locker room” talk, you know from the bottom of your heart that it would put her job on the line. Her employment is the major stake at play and if you’ve been someone with an entry-level job trying to make your way in the industry, you feel that heavy weight on your shoulders 24/7. She even exhorts herself to do more than is required just to be noticed and appreciated by her boss. Because she is a woman, she has to play the game within the “boys’ club” she’s thrown into. Green succeeds at making this drama play like a gripping thriller, for you feel all of Jane’s personal anxieties regarding her decision to get involved with her boss’s personal affairs or not. It’s not even for his sake, but for the wellbeing of the women that he comes on to. Green even subtly expresses how companies like this follow a hive mind mentality to enable the nameless powerful exec. God forbid you go to HR and blow the whistle on your boss because they would use that information against you. That’s one of the most gut-wrenching sequences the film offers. While you’re slowly getting mad, it forces you to imagine how many real people have experienced this same scenario. Mind you, you never see the face of her Weinstein-esque boss. All of his attributes are applied to her boss without you ever seeing him. It’s not necessarily Harvey Weinstein, but you get who the basis of the character was. You hear him spew out vile aggression towards her on the phone or as background noise from his office. Besides setting it on Jane having to navigate around the workplace, Green includes various events that parallel what Weinstein has done — aside from sexual abuse — in background vignettes and pieces, such as foreign Asian investors and filmmakers coming in for a meeting and then storming off because their movie was trimmed. Where have we heard that before?
Is it too early to start a Julia Garner awards campaign for Best Actress? She is incredible and shines in the leading spotlight all the way through. Dare I say that this is her breakout role for features? If you loved her in Ozark, this is Garner showing her chops and range as an actress where her expression speaks louder than words. She’s put in a relatable position that barely ever gets represented on screen. She captures the ethic of hard work, but also the slight naiveté of a young person stepping through the door and realizing that not everything is what it’s cracked up to be. You sympathize with her throughout as she works her damnedest to survive and, like Elsa from Frozen, conceal not feel. She receives a lot of pushback from so many people in her environment, including her co-workers, her superiors, her boss’s wife, and her boss. She has to face so much shit head-on and she just internalizes it all without ever breaking. That's a major part of Garner’s performance that is relative — her unbroken spirit and her unlimited amount of determination. When she experiences even a small cathartic release, it holds up to a reality that many professionals comprehend, such as her simply using a blender while aimlessly staring into the spinning mixture of whatever is inside, on the brink of disassociating just so she can bury those strong emotions she bears.
This is one of those cases where I have no issues with the film. Sometimes you go in, watch a movie, and even upon reflection you have no issues with it, but you can still feel the rating you’re going to give it. The Assistant is a slow burner drama that injects you with a stressful thrill that is relative but also frightening, especially with the subject matter. Kitty Green showcases her power as a storyteller and leaves you curious about what she’ll do next. That said, The Assistant gets only a 3.5/5. It’s a really good movie that does the service it sets out to do — nothing more, nothing less — and does it with a short run time so it never overstays its welcome. Rating: 3.5/5 | 75%
