TAPE – Review by MaryAnn Johanson
How do you get people to listen to things they don’t want to hear? How do you get them to understand things they don’t want to contemplate? Human blindness to uncomfortable issues is not limited to one realm of grief and suffering, of course, but it’s a particular problem when it comes to sexual harassment, intimidation, and rape that so many women (and some men; but far more women) are subjected to. Women who speak about their experiences at the hands of predatory men are often gaslit by our culture: cops and lawyers, even friends and family may ask, “Why did you let yourself be alone with him?” “What were you wearing?” “Why didn’t you say no?” And we women gaslight ourselves: “Did I inadvertently lead him on?” “Why didn’t I leave?” “Is this my own fault?”
Coping with the aftermath of such an encounter can be confusing, anxiety-inducing, and angry-making. So it’s hardly any surprise that the intimate, internal Tape — based on a true story; undoubtedly many true stories — is similarly messy, furious, and sometimes even deeply at odds with itself. That does not mean that it is not absolutely necessary, nor that its rage is not absolutely vital. That does mean that this uneasy film reflects, if perhaps accidentally, a state of mind that is itself uneasy. Continue reading…
EDITOR’S NOTE: Tape is AWFJ’s Movie of the Week for April 3, 2020
