The Assistant
Director: Kitty Green
Year Released: 2019
Rating: 1.5
Jane (Julia Garner) works as the office assistant for a (Harvey Weinstein-esque) movie producer and she sees him bringing in young girls for nefarious purposes - when she reports it to the head of Human Resources, he ignores her concerns (and mocks her) ... and then she goes back to her desk to pout. I get that it's trying to address the issue of sexual harassment and abuse of power in Hollywood (the #MeToo movement) but it strains itself to be "serious" (I get it, you saw Jeanne Dielman) and just ends up being redundant. About ten minutes in I was wondering why Jane doesn't just quit in disgust (because that's what most reasonable people would have done) but I suppose she truly wants to work for scum (there's even a casting couch!) and chooses to unbox the umpteen alprostadil supplies (Pfizer-made penis injections) and properly dispose of the used needles. Ruthie from Ozark would have taken a different approach, and someone would have gotten a kick in the privates....