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Boston Strangler (R13, 113mins) Directed by Matt Ruskin ****½
Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley) is desperate to escape the confines of the Boston Record American’s Lifestyle Desk.
To her, the prospect of reviewing Sunbeam’s latest toaster just lacks the same frisson as delving deep into the troubles that plague her city in 1962. But despite admiring her persistence and tenacity, editor Jack MacLaine (Chris Cooper) believes there’s no room for her on the crime beat which he already has “six guys working”.
Jealous of – and perhaps equally inspired by – the freedom afforded to undercover reporter Jean Cole (Carrie Coon), as well as being armed with cuttings, Loretta won’t take no for an answer, pointing out that they are being regularly scooped and that three women have been strangled in the last two weeks.
“I don’t see the interest,” MacLaine splutters, “these are nobodies.”
“Who do you think our readers are?” comes the rapid retort, urging him to let her profile the victims and offering it to do it in her own time, when he quibbles that “she lacks the experience”.
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Pretty soon, Loretta has uncovered disturbing similarities between the trio of murders – and her findings are splashed across the front page. However, the response is not what she hoped.
Boston’s Police Commissioner McNamara (Bill Camp), fresh from having “every old lady ringing him up” fearing for their safety, dismisses her claims of a “deranged individual” stalking the city as “barstool gossip”.
While refusing to answer MacLaine’s demands to clarify “what the hell we got wrong”, the Commissioner warns him that “if you keep running this story, you’re going to end up embarrassing yourself”.
Cue MacLaine delivering the bad news to Loretta that any follow-ups have been “killed”. “This story is a headache, I don’t need right now.”
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Carrie Coon and Keira Knightley team up for Boston Strangler.
That is, until a fourth victim is discovered. While aware he’s risking the wrath of McNamara, MacLaine enlists Jean to join Loretta in tracking down relatives of the victim – Jane Sullivan. Suddenly, the pair have the biggest story in Boston, their photo bylines staring back at them from the newsprint.
But despite a hundred tips a day and working through the screening of thousands of sex offenders (as well as raiding every gay bar in the city), months later, the cops are still no closer to capturing “the Boston Phantom”, while more women continue to die in horrific circumstances and Loretta and Jean themselves are being subjected to various forms of abuse and intimidation.
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In a way, Boston Strangler feels like a companion piece to last year’s She Said – two disparate female reporters battling blatant sexism and toxic masculinity to bring their audience the truth – and victims justice.
Writer-director Matt Ruskin (Crown Heights) has done a terrific job of creating a sense of space and place for his true-crime drama. This is a tale that mixes the visceral feeling of a city living in fear a la Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam, with the inherent drama of the twists and turns of a journalistic investigation that served the likes of Spotlight and All the President’s Men so well.
In a way, this feels like a companion piece to last year’s She Said – two disparate female reporters battling blatant sexism and toxic masculinity to bring their audience the truth – and victims justice – only told with far more brio. Credit for that must also go to the two leads.
A standout in The Gilded Cage, Coon is once again fabulous here as the independent Jean, while Knightley, as she has shown in the likes of Official Secrets and Colette, is a master of bringing to life women juggling careers and personal lives that may sometimes find themselves at odds with one another.
For those familiar with what happened as a result of the Boston Record American’s digging, this will be a solid, entertaining watch, for those who only know “the Boston Strangler” moniker, be prepared for an engrossing ride full of revelations and sometimes rage-inducing shocks.
The only disappointment? That this brilliant, most definitely post-viewing discussion-inducing drama somehow failed to get a cinema release.
Boston Strangler will begin streaming on Disney+ on the evening of March 17.
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