Hillbilly Elegy (Film)
7.1 /10 3 Votes
Country United States | Language English Director Ron Howard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Composer Hans Zimmer and David Fleming Runtime 115 minutes Production company Imagine Entertainment Release Date 11 November 2020 Genres Drama Filming Location Middletown, Ohio, USA Aspect Ratio: 2.39 : 1 Writer's J.D. Vance and Vanessa Taylor Similar 6 Balloons, The Da Vinci Code (film), Backdraft (film) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hillbilly Elegy a Ron Howard Film | Amy Adams & Glenn Close | Official Trailer | Netflix
One of the newer releases of 2020 on the block is Hillbilly Elegy. Directed from Vanessa Taylor’s screenplay of J.D Vance’s memoir of the same name, the movie premiered in select theatres on the 11th of November 2020. Towards the end of the month, it was released on the streaming platform, Netflix. The movie is a drama film starring Amy Adams, Glenn Close, Haley Bennett, Gabriel Basso, and Frieda Pinto, among others.
Contents
- Hillbilly Elegy a Ron Howard Film Amy Adams Glenn Close Official Trailer Netflix
- Plot
- Review
- Facts
- References
Plot
Hillbilly Elegy follows the return of Yale student, J.D, to his home in Ohio after a family emergency. The movie begins in 1997, and J.D is reflecting on his teenage years, visiting his grandparents in Kentucky. After that, it flashes almost a decade and a half ahead: J.D is juggling three jobs as he studies at Yale, while dating Usha. He wishes to get an internship in D.C, where she is. On his way to an event that has networking opportunities, he gets a call from his sister, who informs him that their mother is at hospital after having a drug overdose. Lindsay, his sister, asks him to come down as she cannot deal with the situation on her own as she has three kids. As J.D drives to Ohio, the movie cuts back to 1997. Hillbilly Elegy oscillates between the past and the present, cutting through scenes between 1997 and 2011. The film ends with J.D driving back to Yale, after having booked a motel room for his mother.
Review
The drama film has a made-for-Oscar feel to it: and it’s not very good, to be polite about it. The flashback and present style of screenplay has been seen before, and it works at times. When it comes to Hillbilly Elegy, it is much too much repetitive after a point. The character of Meemaw, featuring a prosthetic laden Glenn Close, seems more like a caricature than authentic. The character of J.D is more reactionary, than provoking a reaction from the audience. The worst part is, the movie actually has a nuanced message to offer beneath all of this: the complicated cycle of abuse in families, and how much familial compassion can really be shown in these situations. Yet, the film does little to flesh these nuances out, expecting the audience to perceive it via undertones entirely. Performances by all actors have been exemplary – why some of them don’t strike a chord is because the script doesn’t allow it to.
Facts
