In almost any \u201870s crime thriller (and frankly even most 21st-century ones), the men are our focus. We glimpse their personal lives, but their wives and families often exist to humanize them. If we see these supporting characters apart from the protagonists, they\u2019re usually wringing their hands with worry over their husbands and fathers, or they\u2019re in danger themselves to add additional dramatic heft to the lead\u2019s arc, while they lack one of their own. By contrast, in the \u201870s-set I\u2019m Your Woman<\/em>, Rachel Brosnahan appears in every scene as Jean, truly evolving from who she is when we first meet her: a passive character who doesn\u2019t even drive (but does look pretty amazing in a marabou-trimmed fuchsia dressing gown).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jean exists adjacent to a life of crime, with little knowledge of what her husband, Eddie (Bill Heck), actually does for a living. Her life with a new baby is a quiet one (other than the child\u2019s cries), but she is awakened in the middle of the night and forced to go on the run after something goes wrong for Eddie. The mysterious Cal (Arinz\u00e9 Kene) helps get her settled in a safe house, but the danger continues to follow her and her baby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Brosnahan\u2019s Jean isn\u2019t the only atypical character to have her story told in I\u2019m Your Woman<\/em>; Kene\u2019s Cal and other Black characters played by Marsha Stephanie Blake and Frankie Faison challenge the often-segregated world of the genre. The threats against Jean\u2019s life necessitate isolation, but her interactions with Kene, Blake, and Faison add warmth and depth to the film and offer tender scenes in the harsh world on screen. I\u2019m Your Woman <\/em>smartly avoids the issues of its predecessors, though; these are real people, who exist beyond just their connection to Jean. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brosnahan demonstrates that she\u2019s just as good with the necessarily quiet Jean as she is with her chatty lead role in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel<\/em>. The broad strokes of these plots might seem similar \u2014 a stay-at-home mom grows in the absence of her husband \u2014 but Brosnahan does dramatically different work here that evolves along with Jean. As Cal, Kene feels like a star in the making, and not only because costume designer Natalie O\u2019Brien gives him the best cinematic knitwear since Chris Evans in 2019\u2019s Knives Out<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not just the sweaters; each element in O\u2019Brien\u2019s clothing and Gae Buckley\u2019s production design establishes the \u201870s setting down to the smallest detail. It all feels authentic, but it\u2019s also largely gorgeous \u2014 especially the coats worn by Brosnahan and Blake \u2014 though the wood paneling can stay in decades past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The script from Hart and her writing partner\/husband Jordan Horowitz raises some questions it doesn\u2019t answer, and not everything makes sense. Jean\u2019s actions are often illogical, but she\u2019s so clearly out of her element that it\u2019s excusable that she\u2019s not thinking logically. As collaborators, their work is at its most interesting when it plays with genre conventions, particularly in 2018\u2019s Fast Color<\/em> and its unconventional take on the superhero movie. However, they also excel in adding specificity: tiny moments and bits of dialogue that build out this world and these people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In another film, Jean, Cal, and those at the heart of I\u2019m Your Woman<\/em> would simply be a liability or collateral damage, but Hart\u2019s movie rightly elevates them. She\u00a0 proves that these stories are worth telling \u2014 and worth watching. “I’m Your Woman” streams Friday on Amazon Prime Video<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/im-your-woman2-1024x596.png\")
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