Last year’s edition of TIFF had an unusually large number of movie premieres that were directed by famous actors. A cynical way of explaining this is that, as the guild strikes were happening, actors could walk the red carpet at the fest if they presented films they directed rather than merely acted in. The movies were a mixed bag. Chris Pine’s Poolman was a disaster, while Michael Keaton’s Knox Goes Away was underrated and unfairly neglected by critics.
But, by far, the best movie there directed by an actor was Anna Kendrick’s true crime tale, Woman of the Hour. An impressively made debut, with a mastery of the craft and gritty vibe one might not have expected from the famously sunny star, it was snapped up by Netflix in a pricy deal. Surprisingly, the streamer held on to the film for a while, but it looks like they’re getting ready to release it, with the Canadian distributor, VVS, finally releasing a trailer. Typically, when a Canadian distributor shares rights with Netflix, they’ll time the release to coincide with the Netflix drop, and while the trailer doesn’t specify when it’s coming out, a fall release seems in the cards.
In Woman of the Hour, Kendrick plays a young actress named Cheryl Bradshaw who, in the seventies, was a contestant on The Dating Game and found herself matched up with a contestant, Rodney Alcala, who was later revealed to be a serial killer. The film depicts both Bradshaw’s life in Los Angeles as well as Alcala’s reign of terror. It’s a really good, unsettling film, and Kendrick’s chops behind the camera are undeniable. It also gives Daniel Zovatto a really solid star turn as the deranged Alcala. Given Netflix’s reputation with the true crime genre, this seems like a slam dunk for them (read my review HERE).
Are you looking forward to Woman of the Hour? Let us know in the comments!
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