There are moments where Eenhoorn instills his character with more depth than anything else going on in the film, though it is crushed under the rest of the meandering plot.
The moment passes quickly enough, though it makes it unclear why the film decided to bring attention to his leering if he is also meant to be a likeable and sympathetic character. It is a strange moment that disrupts the flow of an already awkward scene while also making it feel like Paul is actually quite creepy. The direction actively undoes this at key moments, calling attention to a scene early on when Paul gawks at a waitress by staring at her breasts. Rather, he says he wants to build a more genuine relationship with someone to fill the void in his life. Paul is a professor who has recently experienced loss and continually pushes back on the assumption that he is going out just to get laid. The best part of the film remains Eenhoorn, a local actor who has made a respectable acting career in a variety of small roles, though the rest of the story does not serve him or the character well. The two men spend a night out on the town and learn about each other’s respective pasts, building an unexpected connection along the way. When Peter offers him twenty thousand dollars in cash, an absurd amount of money for one night of work, the escort changes his mind and agrees to be his wingman. This non-sexual encounter is different from a normal job for the escort and he initially considers bailing. This final task is to take an older man named Peter (Paul Eenhoorn) out to help him find a connection.
How do we know there was a falling out? The escort, who is not named, is beaten up in the beginning of the film and told by a woman named Isabelle that he has to do this one last thing for her. The story is that a younger man who works as an escort, played by Shogi Silver (who also wrote the film), is given one last job for an agency after a falling out. In the Company of Women (2021 | USA | 97 minutes | Kahlil Silver)Ī local film shot and set in Seattle, In the Company of Women is an occasionally interesting if ultimately misguided story that never manages to find a compelling narrative groove.