Secret Movie Club: Movie #1

I have been really excited to see which movies would be included in TIFF's Secret Movie Club and it has finally arrived!

This event is typically held in person in Toronto so I have never had a chance to participate until it went virtual this year. It seems to be a seamless transition because they already had a digital component to their offerings that expanded with their festival this year due to the pandemic.  

The first selection is I'm Your Woman. A movie about a woman named Jean who has to go on the run when her husband shows up, hands her a random baby, and promptly disappears. It turns out he has betrayed his crime partners and they are not pleased that they can't find him.

Rachel Brosnahan gives a solid performance as a woman who kind of knows about the shady business her husband gets up to without really knowing the full extent of it. As the story progresses she realizes how much she doesn't know and how unprepared for any of this she was. Her role could have easily been overacted but she manages to keep it reigned in and believable.

She is surrounded by equally solid actors for the supporting cast. Of special note are both Marsha Stephanie Blake as Teri and Arinze Kene as Cal. The relationship dynamics between Jean and both of these characters stood out to me. Cal plays the man who shows up to usher Jean out of her house and into this whirlwind she finds herself in. They have an ease and a chemistry that while not romantic is still palpable. Teri and Jean also have an interesting bond as two women who find themselves with quite a few things in common. They are never pitted against each other even though that is typically what would happen in a movie like this which I found refreshing.

If you are someone who needs every loose end tied up and every question answered this movie may not be the one for you. Many plot elements, especially when it comes to the actions of Jean's husband, are left unresolved and unknown. It feels more realistic that way to me. Of course she doesn't find out certain things because she logically couldn't based on the plot of the story. You may want to know where that random baby came from but you won't necessarily get to.

It is a familiar but engaging crime drama that introduced me to Rachel Brosnahan as an actress worthy of keeping an eye on. I had not seen her in anything before this and was pleasantly surprised by her.

You can check out I'm Your Woman for yourself on Amazon Prime Video on December 11th. 

My next secret movie releases on the December 18th weekend. I am hoping it is Promising Young Woman.