The Assistant

If you did a double feature with this and "Promising Young Woman", you'd lose all faith in the male race

I do also like how the cinematography kinda keeps everything at a dull color tone like its portraying a possible realistic hell for this position

If you watched this movie on based on the trailer, you're going to be disappointed.

A very bleak and realistic look at corporate culture and abuse of power in the movie industry and how it is normalized. The movie takes its time establishing itself and is presented as a more grounded look at the subject matter rather than an overly-dramatized movie version of reality. This works to the movie's benefit in my opinion, as it makes the events of the film more disturbing and real to the viewer. Great performances in the film reinforce the realistic nature of the presentation and make for a unique viewing experience.

Wow. This is a masterclass in tension, atmosphere, sound design, script, and character acting. Julia Garner is wonderful. If you are looking for a raw, uncomfortable look into a young woman's life as a corporate assistant, this is your movie. I would call it dystopian, but dystopias are typically imagined or unreal societies, while this is all too real. Must see.

For people who like action in their films, you won’t find it here. _The Assistant_ truly is a study in this character and what she deals with on this one day. We get glimpses of the broader world she inhabits when lower ranking managers get called to join the big boss on a cross country trip to L.A. that evening. We see bits of Jane’s relationship with her fellow assistants and her boss when the two men she shares the office with try to help her with an apology email to the boss when Jane says the wrong thing to his wife on the phone.

But it’s the things that go unsaid in the film for the first half that really strikes a nerve and keeps the viewer on edge. It should come as no surprise that the unfaithful film executive is at least loosely modeled on Harvey Weinstein and it’s hard not to envision his face when you hear the boss on the phone. While we never really see his character in the film, he is a weighty presence in the film, just based on his actions.

Read my full review on Substack (https://theoscarproject.substack.com/p/review-the-assistant).

Foregoes sensationalism for the minutia of reality and the film is all the better for it. Julia Garner gives a great, understated performance in this saddening story of male power.

Those without patience need not apply. Those who do will be rewarded.

The invisible boss. The daily routine that has a sexist background. The soundtrack is the noise of the photocopier. It is a strange, silent film, like the protagonist. But step by step, she develops her own language that has a dark envelope. The office is the habitat of a sexual predator. It is the despotic Weinstein universe without naming it ("never sit on the couch"). It is the dirtiest side of the cinema.

Wilcock: "I don't think you have anything to worry about."
Jane: "Hmm?"
Wilcock: "You're not his type."

A movie in which people believe nothing happens, but, there is so much going on underneath the surface. You are only given hints about the bigger picture: a toxic work environment where power comes from control and sexual acts. We never see any of this, but you become aware of what has happened. That alone made this so terrifying to watch.

The quiet moments made the overall setting feel so uneasy.

The people running the show are the type of hotshots you would see on a show like ‘Entourage’.

Going in knowing nothing added to the experience for me and what the movie initially set out to do as it starts hidden in mystery, and the more patient you are with the slow pace, uncover the disturbing truth.

This is a fine film. But yes, as others have said, it's not what you think. Sometimes, this can be a good thing. But here, you might feel cheated. It's as if the plot just begins to move and it's over. To me, the film plays as a short film or possibly a proof of concept.