Women Review: A Slow-Building Crime Drama With Complicated Characters

Release date: May 28, 2021
Running time: 90 minutes
Starring: Michael Simon Hall, Anna Marie Dobbins, Anna Maiche, and Adam Dorsey.
Written and Directed By: Anton Sigurdsson

How far would you go to survive? Hawk (Dorsey), small town detective investigating the disappearance of a local woman comes across an unassuming Sociology professor (Hall) who lives a double life.  And Hawk continues to investigate, he comes across a string of disappearances that appear to all be related.  

Women starts with a suspenseful opening that introduces the predicament and the dire consequences of escaping from the kidnappers strange house.  After that, the film turns into more of a slow burn as Detective Hawk investigates this murder and a string of disappearances in this town.  The movie does a good job of interspersing Hawk's investigation with the events in the kidnappers house, and the film doesn't keep you guessing but at least slowly reveals more and more about this twisted world.  Life inside the house is rigid with a constant sense of dread.  The movie will be perfect for true crime fans and fans of police procedurals for its slow pace and serious subject matter.  The villain has a Toy Box Killer feel, although in a much classier establishment.  In that respect, this film is similar to Do Not Reply for its protagonist and his twisted views of women, but this film has a darker, more gritty feel whereas Do Not Reply had a little bit of camp mixed into its situation.  

Women is an indie film that does not feel budget at all.  The movie has a high quality feel despite what I can only imagine is a low budget.  The film and camera work are great giving you a great sense of this world.  And the setting is perfectly done, with a small town feel where it seems that everyone knows everyone.  The film also has really good make up effects; there is an early scene with a dead body that had you cringing at what happened to this young woman.  And the film smartly uses its budget and doesn't try to do too much.  The movie is all about the characters and the acting, which reflects in the final product.  As I mentioned, the film is a slow burn and that is shown in how it develops the characters and their situation.  I enjoyed seeing more of Hawk as the movie progressed, and seeing the kidnapped girl deal with her situation was another interesting journey to take.  And the acting all around convincing, with plenty of drama and good dialogue. 

But despite Women's great build up and high quality feel, the film has an unsatisfying ending to it.  It almost feels like the movie was going for a surprise ending, but then threw on an extra twist.  And the movie ends abruptly after this, without much overall world resolution.  The ending did not feel like it meshed with the well-realized characters that we had gotten to know and caused the movie to end abruptly and in an unconvincing manner.  I wish the film would have chosen one twist or the other and given the audience a little more at the end.  Additionally, despite the film being a police procedural, some of the police antics did feel a little unrealistic.  And some of the events leading to the conclusion also feel a little too convenient.  But all that being said, Women is a different type of crime drama, with a slower build up and more true crime feel than I would have expected.

Women is a slow building crime drama with a well realized world, good character build up, and a dramatic, slow burning story that will capture your attention.  

Rent it.

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Women is available digitally on May 27, 2021.

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