LLast year’s Toronto Film Festival was notable for several factors: a red carpet stripped of glitter by the American actors’ strike was one; another was a series of feature debuts by well-known actors turned directors. The quality was wildly variable – don’t expect to see Chris Pine’s first feature film, Poolmansoon to be released – but Anna Kendrick’s 1970s true crime thriller set in California, Woman of the Hourwas a highlight.

Kendrick also stars in the film, as Sheryl, an unemployed actor who is persuaded by her agent to appear on a hit TV show, The Dating Game. A fellow contestant on the show—the one she chooses as her date—is Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto), a clever charmer who, as the film’s deftly nonlinear structure reveals, also happens to be a serial rapist and murderer.

Kendrick’s talent for capturing historical detail goes beyond the psychedelic synthetics and kipper ties. She taps into the insidious sexism embedded in the entertainment industry and the broader culture of the time, both of which prove to be minefields of fragile male egos and potential violence.