One of the most puzzling absences in the release calendar this year is Anna Kendrick’s Woman of the Hour, one of a handful of directorial debuts from actors at last year’s TIFF and amongst the best of the bunch. Picked up by Netflix upon its festival premiere, they have yet to set a release date for the serial killer crime drama following Rodney Alcala and his appearance on The Dating Game. However, VVS Films will open it in Canada starting October 11 and now the first trailer has arrived.
I said in my TIFF review, “The logline of a serial killer and rapist taking part in a television dating game show sounds like a high-concept pitch so fabricated it couldn’t possibly be founded in any veracity. Yet, in 1979, Rodney Alcala––whose victims are believed to be as many as 130––was a bachelor on The Dating Game. For her directorial debut, Anna Kendrick expands the 30 minutes of airtime into an inquiry of misogyny and the everyday silencing of women, exploring both Alcala’s shocking murders and the story of a fledging actress hoping for a big break. With a careful threading of humor and horror, it’s an ambitious, slightly strained gamble that Kendrick mostly manages with a formally precise vision and script that doesn’t rely on platitudes.”
See the trailer below.