Women Talking might be the most that a film has ever lived up to its name.
In the film, the women of an isolated religious community have been systematically and repeatedly assaulted by a group of men who have now been arrested in a nearby town.
The other men of the community leave to post bail for the attackers, giving the women 48 hours to decide their future.
Do nothing, stay and fight or leave.
With do nothing quickly eliminated as an option, the rest of the film revolves around debating the merits of either fighting or leaving.
When I say the film revolves around debating this, I'm being incredibly literal. Almost the entire film takes place within a barn where the women... talk. They're joined by a single man, the school teacher who takes the minutes of the meeting as the women are unable to read or write.
The ensemble cast consists of Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Frances McDormand and Ben Whishaw.
In many other years, you'd expect to see one or more of those names nominated for an Academy Award, but this year the film missed out on any acting nominations.
Unfortunately, I imagine that with so many amazing performances, which would all be eligible for the same category, it splits the vote and none are able to really stand out.
The film has a nomination for "Best Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture" at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The only nominee there with no Oscar acting nominations.
It's a tough challenge to set your film entirely in one location. Recently M. Night Shyamalan was able to achieve a good level of claustrophobia and tension with Knock at the Cabin while Darren Aronofsky failed to deliver much of anything in The Whale.
Sarah Polley, the actor-turned-director behind Women Talking does her best to keep the filmmaking dynamic and "cinematic" but for me some of the creative camerawork actually distracted from the film, when the performances and the script were more than enough to keep me engaged.
I'm sure you're probably already able to identify whether or not this film sounds like a bit of you. A dialogue heavy film set in one location isn't meant for everyone, but it's not a chore to watch.
It's not preaching to you or melodramatic or even trying to make massive sweeping statements about all men, which the film could devolve into under a lesser filmmaker. Being that this is the internet, I'm sure a number of you reading this have already written it off as "woke" but that's your loss. More award-winning cinema for me.
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