ROCKING THE COUCH
Avail Films
Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net by: Harvey Karten
Director: Minh Collins
Screenwriter: Minh Collins
Cast: Lauren Anastasi-Peter, Ikon Barenbolm, Alana Crow, et al
Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 2/8/19
Opens: March 15, 2019
For a long time, men have gotten away with sexual harassment and, what’s worse, with sexual battery and assault. As attorney Stephen Rodriguez points out in Minh Collins’ “Rocking the Coach,” women have been afraid of losing their careers or chances to make it big in Hollywood. What’s more they’ve been justifiably afraid of being humiliated of being told that they brought on the harassment by the way they dress and act. Even unions like Screen Actors Guild have tried to hush up accusations lest its own prestige be affected. “Rocking the Couch” deals exclusively with the casting of actresses for movies and TV spots. Unlike the way that Michael Moore would direct a documentary, Collins concentrates on talking heads but enlivens the conversation with animation, re-creations, and pictures. The one distracting and unnecessary element he uses is music in the soundtrack, which does nothing to accent the proceedings.
Collins begins with accusations against Fatty Arbuckle and segues into Natalie Wood, the latter among those who were told that spilling the beans would hurt their careers. The spokespersons, who come forward with accusations and are allowed to speak their minds without interviewers’ questions, are generally women who in middle age still look great but were stunning while in their twenties. Among the more fascinating stores is one in which a handsome producer set up a premise—a woman is trying to get back with her former boyfriend—then tells the actress to improvise and strip until both are naked. When she charges the man with having pushed his penis against her, his defense lawyer notes that the angle of his penis is such that it would not be possible for a woman to feel it. Whether the judge or jury had a laugh is not disclosed.
In another case a former policewoman checks out a guy who has had accusations against him. She wears a wire, with other members of the force waiting outside to jump in if she utters a code word. She has to push the accused off the bed forcefully but did not invoke the code word.
There is still one problem. Many aspiring actresses would be happy to give their sexual services in return for parts in commercials and movies. This break in the potential unity of women to stand up against their assailants operates to make it difficult for others to resist, as they see that the casting directors and producers could do just fine without them.
Aside from the trio of Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby and Kevin Spacey, the most high-profile alleged violators and whose stories encouraged the #MeToo movement, the most damaging punishment cited in this film is that of a Burbank talent agent to five years and four months of prison, though the probation officer recommended probation to a fellow with an otherwise clean record. When Wallace Kaye, age 52, was put on trial for felony sexual battery, his victims testified that they came to Kaye seeking acting or modeling jobs and were assaulted while improvising dramatic scenes with him. Said one of his victims, “I feel like a big load has been lifted and that I can go on with my life. I’m glad he’s going to prison.”
In this film, men are not given spots to challenge their accusers nor do we see men introduced to us in the audience to give their sides of the story. Yet even without them, the evidence is compelling, prompting the police to urge women who are raped to go immediately to a hospital for a rape kit, not to shower away the evidence of molestation.
65 minutes. © 2019 by Harvey Karten, Member, New York Film Critics Online
Story – B
Acting – B+
Technical – B
Overall – B+
