The On Demand Roulette Wheel

Here's another sad by-product of the ongoing pandemic.  I don't go to those little independent movies that are frequently well reviewed.  The ones that are then awaiting my own trusty reviewing skills.  

When theaters shut down to the population in March, there were a couple of films on my to-do list that then promptly disappeared from my grasp.   "The Assistant" was one of those movies.   

And so, as we all sit in solitary confinement, the On Demand button on our remote controls provides the key to seeing films just like that.   Frankly, as you survey the rental prices (some I have seen are as high as twenty bucks), you realize it's a complete crap shoot.  "The Assistant" was listed at an affordable six dollars.

Sold.

And it was six dollars well spent.   Oh, not really.  Here's another in a long line of movies whose superlative reviews confound me.  Luckily, "The Assistant" comes in at a very economical 90 minutes, so you're not wasting a lot of time for your outlay of six greenbackerinos.

Indeed, this movie is essentially a day in the live of Jane, a junior assistant at a Manhattan film company.   We follow the always unsmiling Jane from literally dawn to dusk.  We watch her make xerox copies (still?!), brew coffee, restock the company medicine cabinet, and get scolded for wrong lunch orders she made at the deli.

There also might have been a fly walking up the wall, but I missed that.

But, with subtle nuances in the background, you see all the little warning signs the #Metoo folks have included in their training films.  There's a lot of THAT going on here and the faceless boss on the phone just might have the last name of Weinstein.   

So Jane goes to the HR guy to complain about what she is seeing and understanding about all THAT.  He routinely dismisses her.

At nightfall, she shuts down the office and stops at a coffee shop for a stale danish.   She calls her dad to wish him a happy birthday.   She heads home.  Tomorrow will be another day just like this for Jane.

End of movie.   So long, six dollars.

I realize there's probably some important things being said by writer/director Kitty Green.   But the production is dingy and dark and dreary and completely devoid of even the slightest of smiles from lead actress Julia Garner.   The result is a thoroughly unappealing ninety minutes.  

Yep, at your home prison or the local cineplex, independent movies are just like that roulette wheel.   Sometimes, the ball lands on your number.  Most times it does not.

LEN'S RATING:  Two-and-a-half stars.

Dinner last night:  Leftover pork tenderloin.