December 14, 2020

GENRE | Rachel Brosnahan Reveals 'I'm Your Woman'

"He never told me a lot of things."
Rachel Brosnahan Marsha Julia Hart | I'm Your Woman | Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Studios / Big Indie Pictures
Indie director Julia Hart offers another intriguing female-focused character drama. Starring Rachel Brosnahan (also a producer) as a seemingly typical '70s housewife, Jean, before she's forced to go on the run when her shady criminal husband (Bill Heck) gets into trouble, I'm Your Woman slowly reveals itself through mostly small but controlled moments of sustained tension.

Brosnahan's quietly arresting performance anchors the bulk of the film's sideways told slow burn crime drama. Jean doesn't know much and doesn't ask a lot of questions as we carefully learn the interiority of her kept life. Arinzé Kene co-stars as Jean's protector, Cal, on the run as Jean is often left on her own to cope with strangers. Kene is forced to act mostly through few words and non-verbal queues to get across who his character is in relation to the threadbare plot.

Written by Hart and her husband/producer Jordan Horowitz, the film leaves the audience much in the same frame of mind as Jean's sense of confusion and fear not knowing what exactly she's running or hiding from, who's looking for her, and where her husband is. This takes a great deal of patience as Hart resists providing more information until Jean figures out little details on her own as the viewer is almost totally put into Jean's point-of-view or frame of mind despite not knowing exactly what exactly her situation is.

Hart's tense domestic drama feels like an exercise in character building without much in the way of dialogue or conventional storytelling. I'm Your Woman could easily be a detour in the background of a more typical gangster flick. Instead, the film enriches its atypical nature by exploring the depth of its situations and emotions. It's easy to see the whole thing as a clever reinvention of underutilized female characters (thinkg the long-suffering wife or girlfriend) usually seen in popular crime genre fare.

I'm Your Woman is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.


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