“Woman of the Hour” is the directing debut of popular actress Anna Kendrick. The film is based upon the crazy true story of a woman’s near-miss encounter with serial killer Rodney Alcala, who somehow is selected as a contestant on the once popular TV show “The Dating Game” in 1979.
Alcala had already murdered several women and a child but continued to evade law enforcement by changing his name and moving around the country. Kendrick also stars in the film as the struggling actress Sheryl Bradshaw, who agrees to go on “The Dating Game” at the urging of her agent to “get seen.”
Alcala is portrayed with the required equal parts of endearment and derangement by Costa Rican actor Daniel Zovatto, and as he does with each of his victims, convinces Sheryl to select him for her date. Fortunately for Sheryl, an awkward conversation with Alcala after the show leads her to cancel her date.
Kendrick effectively weaves several timelines of Alcala’s other attacks while tracking Sheryl’s progression on the show. This unique approach heightens the tension and suspense of the interplay between the characters, despite knowing the outcome.
A stellar supporting cast and wonderful camera work, which frames each attack in urban, western and coastal landscapes, elevate Kendrick’s film way above the typical profiling of a serial killer, which all too often caters to our voyeuristic curiosities. Kendrick instead focuses on the dangers faced by women in instances that vary from a simple conversation to deciding to trust someone enough to go with them to an isolated location.
While Kendrick takes some unnecessary liberties to punctuate her point, and curiously omits how two inquisitive girls in upstate New York helped capture Alcala, who was finally listed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Poster, Kendrick delivers a unique take on chronicling a serial killer. She wisely deprives the audience of gruesome portrayals of the attacks, focusing instead on the heart-wrenching emotional moments when trust turns to fear in a matter of seconds.
So, on my ski trail rating system, “Woman of the Hour” earns my highest BLACK DIAMOND ski trail rating. Kendrick breaks from the Netflix crowd of mediocrity and delivers an entertaining crime thriller which doubles as a stunning indictment of pervasive sexism which allowed a predator to evade capture far longer than should have been the case.
After debuting at the Toronto Film Festival last fall, “Woman of the Hour" is playing exclusively on Netflix with an efficient runtime of one hour and thirty-five minutes, and the film is rated R for language, violent content, sexual references, and brain-damaged bachelors.
