The Assistant

Taking its inspiration from the Harvey Weinstein scandal, The Assistant resonates with the #MeToo movement in its psychological study of the film industry. The drama is presented from the point of view of Jane (wonderfully performed by Julia Garner), who has recently landed her dream job as a junior assistant to a powerful entertainment mogul. The film unfolds as if in real time: we observe Jane’s daily routine, mostly a series of mundane tasks, and her response to an accumulation of degradations against which she decides to take a stand—only to discover the true scale of the system into which she has entered. Kitty Green’s debut feature, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and screens as a gala spotlight at the Sundance Film Festival, is “an urgent, quiet scream” (Eugene Hernandez, Film Comment).