The Assistant (2019)

A personal assistant’s long day working at a company where everyone abuses their authority.

Welcome to the business side of the film industry. Where, like any other business, $h!t always rolls downhill. And like any other business, one needs to start from the bottom of that hill… from the abyss of nothingness! Where even the cockroaches give you orders. This is precisely what Jane’s (Julia Garner) story is about. Another day at the office…

From the very beginning, Jane’s paid slavery, other than written on her forehead, is dictated by Kitty Green’s lengthy shots and slow editing (Blair McClendon co-edited it). Green produced, wrote, directed, and edited a drama of an aspiring young woman who sacrifices her personal life to do her best at work, only to get bullied by her superiors who abuse their position and treat their inferiors like children of a lesser God. Green successfully manages to constantly indicate that no matter how high or low one is, they’ll manage to give the same amount of abuse, if not more, to the people below them. And as mentioned in the beginning, the one at the bottom gets it all. Watch when Jane herself speaks to the driver, these are the first signs indicating that she herself has already… (you’ll get it).

Regardless of who gets the most considerable portion of that $h!t, though, what remains a fact is that no one is really happy in the end. Not at all. Not by a long shot. Ambition is characterised by desire and determination; most of us have it. It’s something that grows inside us and something that becomes obvious to the people around us. And for that reason, it goes hand in hand with expectation – both ours and the people around us. Trying to match ambition and expectation constantly takes a significant toll on our lives, and the time will inevitably come when we must ask ourselves: Where do I draw a line? When does ambition stop being ambition and become vanity? When I sell my soul, will I know I have done it?

Kitty Green’s creation and Julia Garner’s performance will give you a sneak peek on a random “Tuesday” of the people working “behind the cameras” in a film’s pre-production process. I’ve seen it, been through it, and I know what it feels like. You become that “Tuesday’s” worth of dog$h!t. Or less…

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