By Kyle Flynn

I was ecstatic to watch the directorial debut of Fleur Fortuné. During the Fall Festival Circuit, it was a film that consistently came up as an exciting film with big ideas. Last night, when I sat down at the cinema to watch, my expectations were reasonably measured, only to walk out dazed. The reason is that The Assessment accomplishes what I feel is necessary in all great art, which is to provoke questions. 

As the film starts, you are immediately wrapped into the narrative of this couple (Himesh Patel, Elizabeth Olsen) existing in something reminiscent of a post-apocalyptic/futuristic world. I have to admire the swing of a first-time filmmaker and screenwriters (Neil Garfath-Cox, Dave Thomas, and John Donnelly) to do something like this. The story takes a turn when the co-lead (Alicia Vikander) appears as the Assessor to conduct the Assessment. The film examines this dynamic throughout the rest of the movie but continues to give the audience multiple questions to consider. 

In the first two acts, I was completely on the same wavelength as the story. In my head, I was considering this to be one of the major sleeper hits of this year. Once the third act started and began to continue, to me, it was doing far too much, and on its appearance, it felt like it had lost some focus. It ties it all up in the end with a very strong ending montage, but the big ideas that it tackles about life, family, and parenthood, in the end, left me questioning if it was perhaps too much for the crew involved. 

Thankfully, what keeps this being so compelling is the stellar cast. Perhaps the best Alicia has been since her amazing 2013-2014 with both Ex-Machina and The Danish Girl, she fully embodies the character and is doing a hyper-stylized performance. Himesh Patel manages to walk a fine tightrope and pull off a performance that feels contained but full of life. Finally, I am thankful to see Elizabeth Olsen delivering another heart-wrenching performance, a great reminder of what she is capable of outside of major franchise work. Midway through the film, at a central dinner scene, the impeccable Minnie Driver delivers a monologue that could lock anybody watching into this movie. 

Fleur manages to keep it so contained while raising the stakes and tension at each moment. I will be seated for whatever he does next. The primary issue that comes up when discussing the direction, and perhaps the editing, is that you can feel the pace of the movie. For a thriller/drama that was spent mostly in a few key locations with a few repetitive notions tackled, the length began to weigh on me, especially when it takes such a large tonal shift during that third act.

At the end of it all, I was excited to see a new emerging talent accomplish a project that felt so fully realized. I love any art that makes you think and challenges the viewer to ask questions; that is the experience you will get with The Assessment. Despite feeling somewhat exhausted by the end, I wonder if there is a cut of this where it changes my entire perspective of the movie. 

3.5 stars