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Oscars 2021

 My husband and I very much liked "The Assistant."

In case you missed this, it's the story of a recent Northwestern grad who goes to work for Harvey Weinstein, or someone like Harvey Weinstein. (We never see the boss onscreen.)

The assistant has brains, and she knows something is wrong. People make jokes about Weinstein's gross casting couch--which is, literally, a gross couch, a few feet away from a big desk. If you stop by HR, you might overhear someone murmuring: "They have nothing....They really don't have a case...." You might hear this *quite a bit* .....

Also, Weinstein feels free to berate people in public: "You're a joke. You're the dumbest one I've hired. I thought the last one was dumb, but my God...."

All of this is gripping and unnerving to watch, but I liked even more the *very subtle* ways in which a secretary is abused: how powerful people will use a secretary as an object of aggression, so the powerful people don't actually have to square off against *each other* ....How men in an office will require the female secretary to deal with the "difficult ex-wife" ....("She asked for YOU.") How you're forced to draft disingenuous apologies, because you yourself might one day have the chance to be a producer, and the world really needs "women producers" .....

If this were a big Hollywood movie, the tension would build to a startling and ultimately life-affirming climax, an Aaron Sorkin-ish exchange of ideas, a satisfying final curtain. But "The Assistant" is smarter and quieter. The movie shows how a terrible system keeps churning along, how difficult it is to make a real change.

I liked the script, and I liked Julia Garner. I'd be happy to see this movie enjoying some kind of triumph at the Oscars.
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