King of the Hill (film)

Plot

Based on the Depression-era bildungsroman memoir of writer A. E. Hotchner, the film follows the story of a boy struggling to survive on his own in a hotel in St. Louis after his mother is committed to a sanatorium with tuberculosis. His father, a German immigrant and traveling salesman working for the Hamilton Watch Company, is off on long trips from which the boy cannot be certain he will return.

Production

Jesse Bradford, who was 14 at the film's release, plays the protagonist. The supporting cast includes Jeroen Krabbé, Karen Allen, Spalding Gray, Elizabeth McGovern, Katherine Heigl, and Adrien Brody. Lauryn Hill also appears in a small part as an elevator operator, her first screen role.

The music was composed by Cliff Martinez, and includes piano work and cues from classical composer Michael Glenn Williams. Martinez's score is restrained and understated, well suited to the nature of the film. Williams' cue for the graduation scene for solo piano, was notable in that it was the basis for his tone poem for Henry Cowell.

Reception

In her review in The New York Times, Janet Maslin says, "The film does a lovely job of juxtaposing the sharp contrasts in Aaron's life, and in marveling at the fact that he survives as buoyantly as he does." In its summary of Soderbergh's films, the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "This subtle, affecting, character-driven, coming-of-age story is one of Soderbergh's best and most criminally overlooked films."

The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 97% rating, based on reviews from 31 critics with an average score of 7.9/10, the site's critical consensus reads: " A subtle, affecting, character-driven coming-of-age story, King Of The Hill is one of Steven Soderbergh's best and most criminally overlooked films."