'The Assistant' film review: Weinstein-inspired story disturbs, chills

Film fans: this is an urgent reminder to not forget Julia Garner come awards season. Garner's understated and gripping performance powers this timely and necessary indie drama "The Assistant" (now playing in select cities).

In short: A day in the life of recent college grad Jane (Garner), whose daily routine consists of doing menial tasks for a powerful Hollywood producer - as she grows increasingly concerned that her boss may be abusing his position of power.

The first 10 to 15 minutes of "The Assistant" seem pretty innocuous. It's simply Jane going to work. With virtually no dialogue, Jane robotically goes down a checklist of early morning office routines: turning on computers, making copies and tidying up the office. It's actually hard to track where this film is headed - but don't be deceived: this deceptively mundane sequence perfectly defines Jane's place in the office. She's the first one in and she's tasked with low-level chores -- Jane has no power but she has a ton of responsibilities.

"Assistant" gradually reveals more and more about Jane and her workplace until everything snaps into place: this film is very much inspired by the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Jane manages very personal tasks for her globetrotting and powerful boss - she arranges for his car services after his plane lands in Los Angeles and she deals directly with his wife. And if she doesn't execute any one task with perfection, her phone rings.

But the grim undercurrent of the film is Jane's increasing suspicion that her boss is acting inappropriately with many young, attractive starlets that come in and out of his private office. There's no one smoking gun - instead, "Assistant" drops a string of breadcrumbs - wherein any one little hint could be brushed off as innocuous enough ... but the totality of which paints a very different, unsettling picture.

Although "The Assistant" is obviously inspired by the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the film is more urgently a depiction of the culture that ignored and enabled predators like Weinstein. In fact, Jane’s boss is never onscreen and his name is never mentioned. This actually makes the story all the more powerful, because it’s not rooted specifically in just the story of one out-of-control monster abusing a toxic infrastructure — this is easily the story of so many powerful men who were enabled by the very people best positioned to stop him. And it would have been easy for any movie to just create a noble protagonist who "does the right thing" to take down the evil predator, but "The Assistant" injects layers of inner conflict for Jane. She knows what is morally and ethically right, but she's met with skepticism, doubt and disarming honesty. She has her own hopes and aspirations for a career in the film industry - and she wrestles with the notion that even speaking up about her suspicions could completely torpedo her career. Her every instinct is telling her that she's right, but she's met with all sorts of internal and external obstacles and even (terrifyingly) justifications for her boss's abuse of power.

In this age where indie flicks blinking in-and-out of arthouse theaters, with audiences content to just "wait until it hits Netflix," the concern for a film like "The Assistant" is that it absolutely requires patience. But attention span is at a premium when people can just try out a movie they've "heard really good things about," then just drop the movie if it doesn't immediately grab them by the collar from the first few moments. "The Assistant" demands patients and focus - and audiences who have both will be rewarded with one of the very finest films of the year.

Final verdict: "The Assistant" presents a daunting portrayal of a powerless person pit against an institution that had more to lose than to gain by taking down a monster using their position for evil. Making a righteous film with a blameless protagonist is the simple alternative to this murky, chilling examination of a culture that tolerates monsterous acts.

Score: 5/5

“The Assistant” is now playing in select cities. This drama is rated R for some language and has a running time of 87 minutes.