The Assistant

Locations
Call Number: DVD Drama Assistant
On Shelf At: Downtown Library, Malletts Creek Branch, Westgate Branch

Originally released as a motion picture in 2019.
Anamorphic wide screen (2.00:1).
Julia Garner, Matthew MacFadyen, Makenzie Leigh, Kristine Froseth, Dagmara Dominczyk, Noah Robbins, Clara Wong.
One day in the life of Jane, a recent college graduate and aspiring film producer, who has recently landed her dream job as a junior assistant to a powerful entertainment mogul. As Jane follows her daily routine, she, and viewers, grow increasingly aware of the abuse that insidiously colors every aspect of her workday, an accumulation of degradations against which Jane decides to take a stand, only to discover the true depth of the system into which she has entered.
DVD, anamorphic wide screen (2.00:1); Dolby digital 5.1 surround.

COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Fantastic Take on the Orbit of a Harvey Weinstein-like Character submitted by sVfGI7Glt2pz7GZgVB90 on June 24, 2020, 9:24am Offers an perceptive commentary on the power structures that enable abusive men. It does so with an exceptionally deft level of artfulness. Timely narrative film to emerge of the #MeToo epoch.

Slower paced but absolutely worth your time submitted by Will O on August 26, 2020, 9:14am Slow paced but never boring this movie did a really good job of showing what a toll long hours on top of a toxic work environment can have.
Julia Garner was great as Jane, the titular assistant displaying a realness and weary demeanor that made me really empathize with her throughout.
It also showed how hard it is to expose bad behavior and how the deck is stacked against anyone who tries to do the right thing while the system protects the people (usually men) who abuse their power and position.
The most telling scene was after Jane goes to HR to try and report her boss and she was not only gaslit by the HR person but it was also very clear HR was aware of the issue as was everyone who worked there and turned a blind eye/protected the boss. To make it worse the visit got back to the boss within an hour and Jane is yelled at over the phone and then made to write an apology email, the second of the day. A very good display of a manipulative and psychologically abusive professional relationship as the boss then complements Jane in his reply saying he was only pushing her because he knew how great she could be.
While I won't rush to watch it again it's still an important movie to see, was well made and kept me interested for the hour and a half runtime.