The Assistant

Very accurate and realistic representation of a work day in a life of the newly assigned assistant to the boss, who's a creep and uses his status to fulfill his desires.

Do not expect anything graphic - everything is done very subtle and all the bad stuff happens behind the scenes.

Do not expect any action either - it is all just as low key and as mundane as it sounds like.

I recommend it, if knowing all that you're still up for it.

Following on from the Harvey Weinstien scandal and other instances of sexual abuse and harrassment by the rich and powerful I'm sure movies like "The Assistant" are going to become more common place but I doubt if many of them will be this strange, this unsettling or indeed this good. Although fiction, "The Assistant" looks and feels like it could be a documentary and Kitty Green, whose first feature this is, does indeed come from a documentary background.

The assistant of the title, (a beautifully subdued Julia Garner), is a young woman employed in the New York office of a media mogul, not just as a kind of secretary, but as someone to clean up, (literally), the mess (literally), that her boss leaves behind and to take whatever verbal abuse he dishes out. She is safe, it would seem, from sexual harrasment because, as she's told, 'she's not his type'. The boss himself is never seen on screen.

This is a genuinely frightening film that goes beyond what has come to be known as the #MeToo Movement. It paints a horrifying picture of what powerful people can do to subordinates given the chance, (I know because I too worked with such people but I, at least, had the balls to stand up to them...and not get fired). What distinguishes Green's film is that she never over-dramatizes, (if anything, she holds back almost to the point of boredom), uses actors who are not well-known to us, (a magnificently obsequious Matthew Macfadyen is the best known person on screen), and films it, not as a clammy thriller, but as a fly-on-the-wall slice of life. There is none of the triumphalism of "Bombshell" on display here, just the chilly feeling that an unseen monster is lurking out of camera shot and destroying the lives of everyone around him.

First off, this movie does make a number of thinly veiled references to Harvey Weinstein.

However, do not expect to see much of Harvey in this movie.

Do not expect a sort of 'Harvey Dearest' exploitation piece with wall-to-wall scenes of a movie executive who is obviously supposed to be Harvey Weinstein abusing and raping employees left and right.

Additionally, do not expect something along the lines of 'All the President's Men' or 'Erin Brockovich' in which a plucky young heroine brings down a powerful but very corrupt individual.

What you can expect is to see a very accurate depiction of a typical day of a typical employee amidst the silent chaos of someone like Harvey Weinstein's reign of terror.

Finally, you can expect a very competent answer to the question of exactly how individuals such as Weinstein and Bill Cosby got away with what they did for as long as they did.

I mean - didn't anyone know?

Well, The Assistant answers this question - with relentless presentation over exposition: they didn't get away with it because no one knew; they got away with it because EVERYONE knew. And anyone who has been witness to this sort of thing knows that's exactly how it happens. The behavior simply becomes part of every day life in the organization, and from thereon no one will say anything because the entire organization becomes an extension of the boss's behavior.

It's not a fun movie - but it is an honest one.

Let's just say, that whoever did this, has experience when it comes to the life of an assistant. There is nothing fancy here and the ticks and tocks are subtle and not in your face. The life of an Assistant is not glamouros (in realityt that is and in the way it is depicted here) - this could easily be a documentary then.

So your patience is being tested in a way, one would say. The movie is interesting to some then and annoying to boring to others. Be aware to which group you belong and act accordingly (watch or don't that is)

"It's not my place to question your decisions. I'm grateful for the continued opportunity." Jane (Julia Gardner) to her boss (Tony Torn)

Jane is a recent college grad who has taken a new job in the city with a media-related firm that has her as an assistant who fears more will be asked of her than the usual go-fer tasks. The above quote just about summarizes her abasement after Boss discovers Jane has complained to HR about his seemingly-predatory practices with young aspirants.

Writer-director Kitty Green has perceptively caught in The Assistant what we all suspected from the Harvey-Weinstein debacle-the sexism and sexual harassment that seem almost a part of a low-level young woman's job description. Plain Jane is constantly on camera, frequently in closeups and peering around the office finding stains on the couch she must clean and compromising conversations she must overhear. These shots do nothing to make her appealing other than to mark her as a good girl caught in compromising situations.

With little affect, Jane is the willing subordinate who might compromise herself should Boss advance on her but who probably is free of the harassment because she is "not his type." So says the HR officer, who listens to her concerns about her boss's predations with new or potential hires.

This scene should be seen by anyone who wants a feel for the imbalances in Weinstein-like worlds, where HR just might tell what you complained about to the Boss and co-workers, and where the fear that she might be fired if she complains keeps her from formally complaining. Jane must be complicit by not complaining or she will lose her precious job. Green makes a compelling case for the gloomy perspective through scenes that demean the protagonist and the office crew.

The Assistant has a Seinfeld theme of being about nothing but really everything. The rumbles are underneath the surface and almost undetectable, so the surface seems cool and accommodating. Yet, looking at Jane's bland face and seeing her capitulate to power and advancement makes on want to certify every minute Harvey stays behind bars.