She Said

Sometimes a movie is a record of events, a record of the truth, which lifts its importance higher than mere entertainment. There have been some notable films about real events, history changing events, and beyond the independently high value of each film, none have come close to All the President's Men (1976).

There comes a moment in every film about journalism, that the size of the shark is revealed. In All the President's Men it is towards the end: "everyone is involved (...) your lives are in danger". In Spotlight (2015) it's when they realize the number of abusive priests, in Boston alone, is not five or six but over ninety. In She Said (2022) the size of the shark is revealed at the historical notes just before the end credits.

She Said, may not be about a crook of a US President or the systemic cover-up of abuse by the Catholic church, but it is about something that reaches far and wide in every corner of life and of the workplace: the abuse of women and the abusers' standard defense that the victims are making it up, and then paying them off for their silence.

Although the pace of the movie is slow and low key, like any investigative journalism is in real life, I would have wanted a few points of punctuation where we instantly realize we are going to need a bigger boat. Yes, such real-life points have been accurately transferred to the screen in She Said, but you have to look for them, they don't jump out at you, and if you are already sleeping you might miss them. This admittedly very well-made movie could do with a little more catering to audiences that need to be pinched awake once in a reel or so.

For years now I have stopped re-watching Weinstein's excellent movies because they were made by a despicable creature who hurt human beings while making these excellent movies. No Weinstein re-runs for me. And kudos to the New York Times investigative reporters and to the New York Times for going after a world-renowned film producer and, in the beginning of the movie, going after a presidential candidate. The producer is now serving 23 years and the candidate got elected. I wonder how much of this movie was also about our society itself, that harbors such people and promotes them. And, speaking of society depicted on film, I wonder how many negative "helpful's" I'll get as punishment for my previous phrase.

A very interesting film about the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the start of the #metoo movement. The lead performances by Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan were great. The film had a solid script that kept me actively engaged. I think it did a great job tackling how difficult this situation was for so many women that were victims of this man. The dialogue really highlighted that. I liked the music a lot in this movie too. The directing was basic but still got the job done. Some of the editing choices were a little weird but some of them were very cool. Overall a solid movie about an interesting and important story that changed the Hollywood industry and the world in general.

Set in 2017, investigative reporters Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) investigate allegations of sexual abuse and toxic workplace environments against high profile Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein as the two talk to reluctant witnesses and survivors and navigate a deluge of NDAs uncovering a widespread systemic abuse of power.

She Said is an adaptation of the 2019 non-fiction book of the same name by writers Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey which itself covered their investigative reporting surrounding Harvey Weinstein's history of abuse and sexual misconduct against women in addition to creating a toxic workplace. The movie is an ambitious project as it covers a very important piece of recent history with these public allegations heralding the MeToo era and there's definitely been positioning for the film as an Oscar contender. She Said is told in a very familiar way, but it does respectfully shine a light on systemic abuse and enabling of that abuse.

If you're familiar with similar films like Tom McCarthy's Spotlight or Steven Spielberg's The Post, then you can expect very much the same approach from She Said as it's a methodical detail oriented piece that largely eschews sensationalisms or emotional manipulation in favor painting a picture of the issue it tackles rather than any particular individual involved while Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan are both good in their roles as Twohey and Kantor and have good chemistry with each other, it's not really their movie as they mainly serve as observers to the stories of others and are collecting them as part of creating the article that will shine a light on Weinstein. The movie does try to give more personal investment for Twohey and Kantor such as a prologue showing the violent sexualized death threats Twohey received after reporting on allegations against Trump in 2016, fending off lewd unsolicited remarks from men while dining out, or scenes with the two interacting with their daughters but it doesn't really offer Kazan or Mulligan any standout moments that elevate either of them above serving as our proxies in the investigation which isn't necessarily a bad thing as it keeps the focus where it should be but does make for a dry sit on occasion.

The movie covers Twohey and Kantor's interactions with many figures in the Weinstein scandal both from the victims and witness against Weinstein as well as those representing Weinstein. The script by playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz does a solid job of bringing these survivor stories to life and while it doesn't actually show anything instead opting to show empty hotel hallways and rooms to add ambiance it makes it no less impactful especially when you have Ashley Judd playing herself relaying her story of abuse at the hands of Weinstein. Maria Schrader does a good job of keeping the film moving at a brisk pace and it never feels like it drags and all the actors give solid performances for the material.

She Said is well made prestige filmmaking and treats a fresh and relevant topic respectfully and tastefully without diving into exploitation. The movie makes a strong point about the prevalence of abuse by those in power and how it's not simply contained to Weinstein himself with the movie wisely keeping Weinstein mostly in the background or as a voice on the phone. If you enjoy true story films of this ilk such as Spotlight or The Post this is definitely one you should check out.

My wife and I watched this new movie streaming on NBC's Peacock. While it is a bit over two hours it is so gripping that it never seemed long. It comes across almost as a documentary but is a dramatization using actors mostly.

It actually starts in 2015 when Trump was campaigning for President and the revelations that he had a history of sexual mistreatment of women but was elected anyway. In effect pointing out the double standard and the old boys' attitudes of "well it was just locker-room talk."

After that brief introduction to the subject the rest of this movie shows how two reporters with the NY Times pursued leads regarding Harvey Weinstein of Miramax and was finally able to get a number of women to come forward with their accounts, ultimately leading to his convictions and imprisonment.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"She Said" (2022) is a very true story about journalists which wrote the infamous article about Harvey Weinstein, which eventually lead to many changes for a good. This movie plays like a documentary - there is no big character development, nor any conventional plot lines. Its about the even and how one got made.

Directing of this movie was very solid - at running time 2 hours i was involved into this story even knowing the outcome very well as the one who actually read the article back in the day. Acting was on spot.

Overall, "She Said" is a true and raw account of events. Its not glamorized nor anything similar - this film plays like a documentary and its a very good one in doing that.