Girl of the Home is the scariest movie I’ve watched from the 2024 film schedule, and that’s in nice half due to its commentary about poisonous masculinity and ladies’s security. Whereas the story follows a serial killer who goes on The Relationship Recreation, at its core, this film is concerning the worry that comes with being a lady and the problems with institutionalized poisonous masculinity. Now, the screenwriter is opening up about that and the way the movie is about “poisonous male conduct on a spectrum.”
Ian McDonald, who wrote the script for Anna Kendrick’s incredible directorial debut Girl of the Hour, spoke to IndieWire at size about how he crafted this movie about an actual serial killer. He additionally talked quite a bit about utilizing the story as a option to drive house an even bigger level. He defined that this movie isn’t simply “about serial killers,” it’s additionally targeted on exhibiting “poisonous male conduct on a spectrum.” Elaborating on that time, the author mentioned:
Rodney represents probably the most excessive finish of that spectrum. Mainly, for a really very long time, there have been quite a lot of issues that we now view as purple flags that, again in 1978, weren’t thought-about a purple flag. Somebody may work their method alongside the spectrum fairly far earlier than anybody mentioned, ‘Hey, this is likely to be an issue.’
Within the movie, we see this spectrum too. Whereas Rodney, the killer, is clearly horrible, and we witness that all through the assorted flashbacks of him killing varied victims, different males within the movie are poisonous too.
Take the opposite Relationship Recreation contestants for instance. There’s a scene towards the tip of the movie the place Anna Kendrick’s character asks the gamers “What are ladies for?” The 2 guys who aren’t the assassin are additionally terrible as they scoff on the query and provides solutions that allude to their perception that girls are objects.
In one other scene, we see a male safety guard take a lady to an workplace when she tells him she wants assist, as a result of she acknowledged the killer on the sport present. He tells her to attend for his superior, nonetheless, that man by no means comes. The truth is, he doesn’t exist.
Each examples are nasty, and whereas it’s not as dangerous a homicide, clearly, it’s on this spectrum of poisonous male conduct that McDonald was speaking about.
Very like Girl of the Hour’s last second of a lady gasping after Rodney was arrested, these different factors that trigger pause. They made me take into consideration the larger social points that this movie was addressing, and simply how scary they’re.
This commentary combined with professional filmmaking from Kendrick, an exciting and significant script from McDonald and extra are what make Girl of the Hour not only a good true crime film, however one of many greatest motion pictures of 2024 that actually has one thing essential to say.
To return and watch the movie with this new data, you may stream Girl of the Hour with a Netflix subscription.