Given the disgraced saga of Harvey Weinstein, his crash and burn meteoric downfall, and the way the cratering implosion decimated his once seemingly-invulnerable career and company, it was inevitable that a documentary based on the former magnate’s scandal would quickly appear in the wake of his ruin. But the aptly-titled “Untouchable,” is more just about the Harvey Weinstein, the power he held over Hollywood for decades and his once-unassailable Teflon armor.
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Wisely concentrating just as much on his victims as the man himself, Ursula Macfarlane‘sSundance documentary “Untouchable“ doesn’t offer many new details about the shamed Hollywood mogul’s infamous misdeeds of alleged rape and sexual assault that dominated news headlines in 2017 and 2018, but nevertheless, it encapsulates the once-upon-a-time celebrated man, and consequential reckoning, of a figure who practically owned Hollywood from the ‘90s through most of the aughts. Talking head interviews from his victims, business and works partners, and friends mesh together with archival photos, videos, and audio recordings of Weinstein for a compulsively watchable, yet not definitive, look at the man whose predatory behavior spearheaded the #MeToo movement.
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“Untouchable” depicts a man who was self-conscious about his looks in high school, barely noticed by his classmates, but developed a showboating personality in college, which would eventually lead him to becoming the top concert promoter in the 1970s Buffalo music scene. How early did Weinstein’s illicit behavior towards women occur? Macfarlane isn’t really sure, but the film does present one of his victims from the late 1970s. Her name is Hope D’Amore and she worked for Weinstein until he allegedly lured her into his hotel room one evening and raped her. She quit the following day. “If I get what I want, it’s consensual,” she says. “I think he believes that.” Those words from D’Amore summarize the mindset of a twisted, narcissistic monster who was dead-set on getting what he wanted whenever he wanted.
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Eventually, Weinstein would move on to Hollywood, kickstart the indie film movement with his brother Bob at Miramax. It’s in the early-’90s that he would allegedly rape another assistant, which resulted in the earliest example of Weinstein’s ultra-strict non-disclosure agreements and huge payouts to ensure silence. And so it went; the more Oscars he won, the greater the influence grew, the larger the victim pool became, with his famous “casting couch” even becoming a recurrent joke in the industry uttered in pop culture television shows and movie. One stunning mini-montage concocted by Macfarlane to illustrate how complacent the media was towards his behavior is particularly damning and even haunting.
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“My life is better for having worked with Harvey Weinstein,” says a Miramax exec. “And now we all feel survivor’s guilt.” That must be the general feeling for many who worked with Weinstein during his glory days of independent filmmaking, and at some point, an old intern even tells the camera that he was always nicer to the women than the men, which rendered his predacious behavior even more bewildering.
Thus far, there have been over 80 women that claimed to be victims in Weinstein’s reign of terror. Some of those victims are interviewed here, including Paz de la Huerta, Erika Rosenbaum, and Rosanna Arquette, who Weinstein promulgated to the spotlight thanks to “Pulp Fiction.” Purely based on the testimony given to Macfarlane, the film deserves to exist and is essential to the current dialogue happening, not just in Hollywood, but in every industry. The footage used here isn’t going to change the game when it comes to the ongoing story, but one intuitively understands, it could be the tip of the iceberg and as more victims continue to come forward, an even greater, more earth-shattering documentary could still surface.
That’s the one issue with “Untouchable” which feels slightly rushed. Perhaps we still need more time to absorb, process and understand the full extent of Harvey Weinstein’s crimes, his story and his atrocious behavior. Macfarlane’s doc almost feels unfinished, delivered too soon and aside from a brief few minutes near the end showing the #MeToo effect born from his destruction, doesn’t bring enough cathartic resolution. “Untouchable” is necessary sure and it tackles the facade of the problem, the main events if you will. But it doesn’t delve deeper into the psyche of Weinstein to be honest. That’s fine for now, and its arrived at the time when people do need some kind of spiritual balm, but a greater sense of closure still feels like it’s somewhere out on the horizon. [B-]
Check out all our coverage from the 2019 Sundance Film Festival here.