Boston Strangler is a period thriller about the two journalists investigating the titular serial killer.
Kiera Knightly as Loretta is wonderfully committed, grounded, and the accent work isn't half bad either. It's nice to see Knightly who has somewhat faded into semi-obscurity the last five years as the lead. She has great chemistry with Carrie Coon, Jean, who's skills are fully on display. It plays a bit like a two-hander and it works. The supporting cast has some notable talents- Chris Cooper, Alessandro Nivola- but its not the actors who let the film down.
The problem is two fold, the first being the production. It's derivative- the dark saturated coloring, the lingering slow zoom shots, the eerie score- it is all very David Fincher, very Zodiac. The serial killer ground has been thoroughly tread- movies, shows, podcasts, documentaries- content on the subject matter is pervasive. And unfortunately a lot of it looks the same, this being no exception. Although kudos for the period costumes and cars. The second problem is the script itself, the pacing is slow the focus confused. The "new take" on the subject matter here is to focus on the two journalists and the sexism both they faced as well as that which bubbled up from the crimes themselves. This is somewhat successful but the difference is mostly split, still cutting to kill scenes and crime scenes undercutting it's own purported focus.
An intriguing if far from successful entrant into the ever expanding true crime oeuvre.
Currently streaming on Hulu.
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