Woman of the Hour

Kendrick proves herself a formidable talent on both sides of the camera. The timeline can be choppy, but this is as considered as it is chilling.

Kendrick’s knack for capturing period detail goes beyond the psychedelic synthetics and kipper ties. She taps into the treacherous sexism that was hardwired into the entertainment industry and wider culture of the time.

I think she [Kendrick] has a really good sense of psychology.

This is an accomplished directorial debut, a movie made with smarts and vision.

The circular structure, as much as it may make thematic sense, also prevents cohesion.

None of this quite counts as stop-the-presses stuff in the present day, but it’s enough to make this a sharp debut, with a shivery undertow.

Kendrick shows real talent in this, her first time in the movie director's chair. Her acting performance here is familiar. The character of Bradshaw is right in her wheelhouse. What's new is her performance as a director, which is something else.

When the victims are pawns for the cat and mouse, it becomes about glorification versus abhorrence. When the victims become the point, we see the micro-expressions and backtracking and desperation.

Kendrick deftly juggles timeline and tonal shifts to create a subversive crime thriller, with expected scares and unexpected empathy and humanity.

Kendrick gives a credible and relatively low key performance as the woman in question who knows too little to go on a date with Rodney. One of her best gifts as an actress is being believable without having to overplay a role.