Fate doesn't have to be a curse.

Weekly Directed By Women Viewing Guide

Anna Kendrick’s true crime drama Woman of the Hour is a formidable directorial debut

This week I am recommending the directorial debut of Anna Kendrick, three new documentaries, a horror film that dabbles in astrology, a star-crossed romance, and a twenty-year old Palestinian documentary about the invasion of a refugee camp.

Anna Kendrick’s dissects the power of the gaze in her directorial debut Woman of the Hour

I saw Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut Woman of the Hour at the Toronto International Film Festival last year and it hasn’t left my mind since. I re-watched it last week and it was even better than I remembered. Here’s a bit from my four-star review over at RogerEbert.com:

Written by Ian McDonald, the film is inspired by the true story of how serial rapist and killer Rodney Alcala appeared on "The Dating Game" in 1978. Along with a typically intelligent and spunky performance from Kendrick as Sheryl, an aspiring actress and the contestant who matched with him on that fateful day, as a director she shows a keen sense of curiosity about the power of the gaze, cinematic and human. 

"You're beautiful," Alcala says to all of his victims, mostly women on the margins of society. He is a photographer. He knows the power of his gaze, of his camera. Kendrick begins her film with a victim who was murdered in 1977. We hear her off screen before we see her. The first image of her is framed within Alcala's lens. "Try to forget there is a camera here," he tells her. Kendrick then focuses her lens on Alcala's face, actor Daniel Zovatto's eyes masquerading as open pools of empathy, the tool with which he lulls women into a false sense of safety. When he shifts to predator mode, an overwhelming cruelty overtakes his eyes. Kendrick holds on his face, allowing the shift to happen before our eyes, placing us directly in the psyche of his victims.

You can stream the film now on Netflix in the U.S. and if you’re in Canada it’s playing in theaters around the country, including at Cineplex and Landmark theaters.