I kind of understand why "She Said" is flopping right now. On the one hand, the marketing campaign was really bad; on the other hand, the Weinstein scandal and the whole MeToo issue is perhaps still too fresh to make it into a movie. The "New York Times" article we're talking about here was so present a few years ago that it wasn't really necessary to rehash it right now.

But none of this changes the fact that "She Said" is a fantastic film. Director Maria Schrader calmly tells the story of the entire investigation. The sexual assaults are described in great detail, which is really disturbing. The effects of this system on the victims are very well conveyed. Schrader largely avoids over-the-top Hollywood moments. The story works as a journalistic thriller as it is.

The film is carried by the leads, Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan. Mulligan in particular is once again fantastic, but Kazan is also good. Especially the moment when the first victim is ready to speak out publicly is great cinema.

I don't have much to complain about. Of course, the boring moments of the investigation are skipped, which perhaps dulls the realism a bit. But that also ensures that the film is exciting throughout. And above all, the victims are placed in the spotlight. That is the only acceptable way to tell this story. It's a shame that only a few people will see it in theaters.

Cinema as entertainment. Cinema as denunciation. Cinema as historical memory.
Eight years ago, Spotlight presented the drama of a group of journalists who, despite the difficulties, published an article that shocked the world: The Church allowed abuse by priests for years (2002). After uncovering the sewer, thousands of stories around the world came to light.
Now we have "She said", a film that presents the drama of a couple of journalists who, despite the difficulties, published an article that shook the world: Harvey Weinstein paid off sexual harassment accusers for decades (2017). After uncovering that other sewer, not only did dozens of stories come to light, but an expansive movement was created: #MeToo.
I don't know how Carey Mulligan manages to be such a good actress; a single look, a scene with no change in her gestures, can be so powerful. Not only was the casting of Carey as Megan Twohey terrific, but Zoe Kazan in her portrayal of Jodi Kantor is wonderful as well. Both support the film without problem as the protagonists of this story. Rebecca Lenkiewicz's script is completely on point, entertaining and moving. Nicholas Britell's music seemed ideal to me, as it highlights the scenes of tension, breakdown, and frustration. Natasha Braier's photography provides frames that without the need for dialogue convey a lot. All taken care of by a good direction by Maria Schrader.
There are very valuable messages presented in the dialogues that are necessary in society. So it is a film that is well worth watching, and keeping in mind as an example of cinema as historical memory. There are many horrible stories to tell, many sewers to uncover, many investigations worthy of applause, many articles that change the course of society. "She Said" is proof of that.

**By: Louisa Moore / www.ScreenZealots.com**

Important subject matter doesn’t always translate to a good movie, and “She Said” is a botched attempt at retelling the true story of two New York Times reporters who took down the infamous Hollywood abuser, Harvey Weinstein. It’s something with which the industry is very familiar, and the years of sexual misconduct that the two women uncovered is horrifying. It was one of the most important articles to ever run in the newspaper, but this story would be better suited to the page and not the screen.

The film follows writers Megan Twohey (Carey Mulligan) and Jodi Kantor (Zoe Kazan) as they investigate the Miramax movie mogul, trying repeatedly to get big name actresses to go on the record to expose Weinstein’s gross abuse of power. Instead of offering new insight, director Maria Schrader uses the same old newsroom clichés to create a pedestrian investigative journalism film. It’s procedural, boring, and repetitive, with a series of scenes featuring the two leads making phone calls, writing or reading text messages, and sitting in editorial meetings. Of course, this is less than interesting because the story isn’t cinematic: it’s dull.

The film touches on the more interesting aspects of working as a woman in Hollywood, as many of Weinstein’s victims refused to be named on the record because they were terrified they’d never work again. This did happen more often than not, and he either bought or forced their silence. Perhaps if screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz had decided to focus more on the personal dilemmas and fallout his victims faced rather than only briefly touch on them, this would have been a stronger and more powerful movie.

Even worse, the film doesn’t feel timely. The decision to tell this story now seems dated and past its expiration date. Women will always remember the #MeToo movement and it will go down in history as one of the most important feminist campaigns of the 2000s, but many of us would rather forget about Weinstein while he rots away in jail.

Here’s where my biggest problem with the film comes in: the story leaves a really bad taste in my mouth, especially when you stop to realize that many of Weinstein’s employees, friends, and peers either aided in covering up his crimes or even worse, willfully looked the other way. Harvey’s touchy nature and treatment of subordinates was the worst kept secret in Hollywood circles. He was as creep, and many who met him were uncomfortable being in his presence. It feels a bit disingenuous (or perhaps just a bit ironic) to make a movie about it, even if the story’s focus is on the two reporters.

The better parts of the narrative inspire with the proof of the power of journalism to encourage change, and Kantor and Twohey absolutely played a huge part in giving women who were victimized the courage to come forward. Mulligan gives a strong performance, but it’s a shame she didn’t have an equally robust script to work with. Both of the leads feel wasted, especially when they are called on to do little more than rattle off facts and name-drop big actresses who came forward to expose the year of abusive behavior by Weinstein. None of this is a substitute for compelling drama, and “She Said” fades into the void of forgettable procedural journalism films.

Try as I did, I just couldn't really engage with this rather long, procedural and sterile depiction of two journalist's traumatic and courageous efforts that finally ended Harvey Weinstein's unfettered abuse of many of the women who worked for and with him over the lengthy span of his Hollywood dominance. Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan are competent, but no more, as these lead reporters facing the seemingly impossible task of navigating a toxic environment of fear, shame and non-disclosure agreements in the hope that one of his victims will go on the record. When you know what ultimately happens with a true-life scenario, it makes the telling of the story that much harder because there is no sense of jeopardy. The thing with this for me, though, was that the writing and characterisations were all just too flat. It also frequently blurs the distinctions between fact (or "information" as it is often referred to here) with unsubstantiated gossip. Now, clearly the aim of these two ladies was to substantiate those rumours, but the film doesn't really get to grips properly with that. One witness has been untraceable for many years (yet she is readily found by them living with her mother!); the others have remained tight lipped due to the NDAs but suddenly start to spill the beans. Why? What made them decide to finally bring this brute to book? The cold-calling nature of their approaches often appears cruel and ill-considered of the consequences (especially the scene with Andrew Cheung (Edward Astor Chin) obliviously mowing his lawn). None of the detail or personalities are really gone into here - the whole style is superficial and the lack of dramatisation of any of the incidents, or - indeed - of Weinstein himself, leaves us with a slightly disjointed, hollow, movie. It looks at the abhorrences of intimidation and oppression in the workplace then makes generic inferences that - and this applies to men, gay people, people of colour and not just women - rather underwhelmed me at the end. As a chronology of an investigative report it is fine. As a drama about real people facing real horrors it just lacks for depth and character.

I'm 2-for-2 in liking awards-season movies that've seen their awards prospects go up in a puff of smoke, barely made money at the box office, and got a lukewarm shrug from filmheads (along with _Armageddon Time_).

Can't stand most movies/shows that have journalists as characters: it's either Very Noble Very Brave Borderline Infallible people uncovering some horrible covered-up crime and the music swells when the story's published and they're treated no less as some superhero without much personality other than Tenacious Benevolent Protagonist or dig-through-your-garbage shove-recorders-in-the-face-of-victims swarming-like-locusts-type characters who skulk in the dark and will do anything to get a scoop. The actual humdrum work of journalism is often sidelined in favor of just overemphasizing the heroics/rattiness of the journalist character (exception: the superb Australian drama _The Newsreader_ which combined interesting characters and pound-the-pavement work of 1980s TV reporters in a very watchable package). Didn't know what to expect going into She Said, was afraid it'd fall into the Journalists-as-Heroes genre or hit the points of the #MeToo movement too much to treat the expose of Weinstein as The Moment The Patriarchy Ended.

It didn't (for me anyways), and even better it focused a lot on the day-to-day work in getting the story published (with a bit of the requisite 'these journalists have families and personal lives too' scenes but played very naturally and intertwining nicely with their work scenes): Getting leads, interviewing, verifying stories, double-sourcing triple-sourcing information, gingerly initiating conversations with victims who may want nothing to do with them (scenes handled very well by all parties involved), following threads and all the while seeing the scope of Weinstein's crimes grow bigger and bigger. It just focused on the work and I really enjoyed that. (Samantha Morton also pops in for a scene to remind everyone how. damn. good. she. is.) It's definitely not perfect, it has a Big Dramatic Moment that felt very Hollywood & artificial when Zoe's character gets a call about someone going on the record (the music was swelling then, right?), the use of Ashley Judd playing herself but then decidedly not-Gwenyth Paltrow playing Gwenltltyth Paltrow was jarring as hell (why didn't they just shoot the scene without showing Gwynith's actual face?!). But all in all an awards season movie that stands on its own without feeling like a Very Important Issue movie shoehorned into a fall release date for awards.

It's rejection by awards & audiences is understandable, it's almost like the movie came both too soon and too late, too soon as Weinstein is still going through the courts and appeals but too late as a lot of this story has been told (and re-told and re-examined along with reporting about Farrow's investigations) that the average moviegoer can have a "what, _again?_" reaction when hearing this was being released.

tl;dr I'm just really happy Zoe Kazan got a (co-)lead role in a major studio movie