'She Said' spotlights survivors, Weinstein's misdeeds

"She Said" is a solidly competent, impeccably well-acted true-crime journalistic procedural film, essentially serving as an entirely deserved paean to how the efforts of New York Times reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey helped expose the serial sexual predation of film producer Harvey Weinstein, but one might be forgiven for thinking they've seen this film before.

The first impulse of a lazy reviewer is to compare such films to 1976's "All the President's Men," but closer comparisons are found in 2015's "Spotlight," about how the Boston Globe helped expose the systemic sex abuse committed by Catholic priests in that community, and 2019's "Bombshell," about how Fox News CEO Roger Ailes was exposed for sexual harassment.

Because unlike the Watergate scandal, which not even Bob Woodward or Carl Bernstein initially imagined would lead to President Richard Nixon, the identity of the perpetrator in "She Said" is no more of a mystery to Kantor or Twohey than the murderer in any episode of "Columbo."

Although we hear what's meant to be Harvey Weinstein's voice, and see an actor standing in for the back of his head, we never see his face or his physical gesticulations, which does an effective job of conveying the veil of silence he wore like a wizard's cloak for decades.

Weinstein is reduced to a malignant, infectious presence, a powerful name whose wrath almost no one dares to invoke by speaking it out loud, and a monstrous pattern of misdeeds, unworthy of being dignified by an impressionist's imitation of him, because the true core of this film's story is the women who struggled to survive Harvey Weinstein as he violated their bodies, their autonomy and their sense of self-worth, as implacably as he laid waste to their careers.

The roles of our reporters become less about their gumshoe sleuthing, in spite of the literally globetrotting itineraries they rack up in tracking down potential sources, than about coaxing Weinstein's victims (and a couple of his complicit enablers) into cathartic confessions.

As Molly Fischer of The New Yorker observes, this is investigative journalism recast as healing therapy, which robs the retelling of the more traditional dramatic tension of detectives' tales, but in exchange for giving full vent to how Weinstein's actions, however briefly they were of concern to him, haunted these women for the rest of their lives, professionally and personally.

It's good to see Carey Mulligan of 2020's "Promising Young Woman" again, investing her portrayal of Megan Twohey with the same defiant, resolute gaze that could stare down the sun itself, even as she depicts Twohey's post-partum depression and her disillusionment over how the last target of one of her sexual misconduct exposés wound up being rewarded by the public.

So much is said by Twohey's refusal to react to an anonymous call threatening to rape and murder her for a news story she'd written, because this is the toxic atmosphere that so many women have to choke down in order to do their jobs.

Zoe Kazan as Jodi Kantor animates a different set of concerns, as she's taken aback when her bright grade school daughter asks whether the women her mom is writing about are rape victims. When Kantor points out that she's never heard her daughter say the word "rape," the girl casually notes how often boys and girls her age say it.

We don't protect our kids from the world's evils by pretending they don't exist.

Jennifer Ehle, Samantha Morton and Angela Yeoh are all raw, earnest and appropriately uncomfortable to watch as Weinstein victims Laura Madden, Zelda Perkins and Rowena Chiu, respectively, while Peter Friedman adds a touch of pitch-black comedy to the proceedings with his ever-schmoozing depiction of Weinstein legal ally Lanny Davis, whose dance of affected pleasantries with the BS-intolerant Twohey is guaranteed to evoke a few grim laughs.

Oddly enough, one of my favorite acting performances in this film comes from veteran "Hey, it's that guy" character actor Zach Grenier, playing embittered former Weinstein accountant Irwin Reiter, who's so burned out that he can't even care enough to be cynical, until even he is morally staggered by Weinstein's depravity when he reads an anonymous account from one of Weinstein's accusers.

Everyone will spot Ashley Judd playing herself, but fewer might realize that fellow Weinstein victim Gwyneth Paltrow's off-camera voice is provided by Gwyneth Paltrow.

As a print reporter myself, I'm bound to be just a bit biased, but I'd consider "She Said" to be one of those films that illustrates what happens when journalism is practiced properly.

A new year can be a fresh start

Looking to the rest of this month, I'll likely be reviewing "Avatar: The Way of Water" for next week's issue, and "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" on Netflix the week after that.

Beyond that? I've said this before, but I'd like this space to be influenced by what my readers would find most interesting and informative.

I remain indebted to the anonymous emailer who asked whether I would be reviewing the "Halo" streaming series on Paramount+ this past March, because as soon as I saw that audience interest, I knew I needed to give it a shot, however middling I found the results to be.

Would you prefer to see me review more movies in the theaters, more streaming TV series, or even more books, to add to the two book reviews I've ever had published?

Local schools, please note: If any of you plan to conduct an experiment along the lines of North Mason High School's 2021 online-streamed production of "A Wrinkle in Time," let me know, because I would love to review and promote that in our paper.

Heck, I could even include my parents' perspectives in more of my reviews, if you've found them entertaining enough.

While I've enjoyed catering to my own enthusiasms, I want this column to serve the public as well, so I'd welcome your input to help guide me.

Author Bio

Kirk Boxleitner, Reporter

Shelton-Mason County Journal & Belfair Herald
[email protected]