Hillbilly Elegy

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This film is based on a memoir of the same title written by J.D. Vance, the man who gives name to the main character or, in better words, the character whose point of view is what the movie describes. As I always do, my preparation for any film means I don't watch trailers nor try to know too much about the story. I knew this movie was based on a supposedly true story or in some sort of book, and I knew that this could very well be an Oscar-bait due to the talented cast and late date of release. That's it. I had no idea about its political background nor Vance's personal statements. I'm from Portugal, so I don't live in a Republicans vs. Democrats or a Red vs. Blue country. Politics is and always will be an extremely irrelevant, depressing, unimpactful topic in my life.

I don't live in the USA, so unless the controversies surrounding films are global problems, I couldn't care less about them. To me, Hillbilly Elegy looked like another family melodrama featuring lousy parenting, drug addiction, bullying, discrimination, and all those formulaic plot points developed in this type of movie. Expectations-wise, I couldn't avoid the first (tremendously negative) reactions from fellow critics on social media, so I prepared myself for the worst. However, there's a reason why I wrote this prologue above, explaining my origins and what I consider to be important in my personal life...

Not trying to justify other people's opinions (everyone has their own right to love/hate any film for whatever reasons they choose to), but it feels awfully clear to me that a lot of American critics were influenced by the real-life J.D. Vance, his memoir, and what some people interpreted about his point of view. I repeat: everyone is in their own right to hate this movie (it has more than enough reasons to, and I'll get to those), but I find "the worst film of the year" statement as exagger...

Interesting and hearty story, which helps 'Hillbilly Elegy' overcome the fact it probably isn't that great a film as a whole.

I enjoyed watching the cast. Gabriel Basso gives a good performance in the role of J. D. Vance, though is outshone by Owen Asztalos; who plays the younger version of Vance. Elsewhere, star names Amy Adams and Glenn Close support strongly. Freida Pinto is even involved, albeit in a minor and largely unimportant part.

I don't love the way the story is told, or some of the elements it tries to force through. I did find myself caring for the lead character though, as well as feeling suitably invested in seeing the plot unfold. There's a nice score in there, also.

I'd say it's a good film, nothing more or less.

This is another entry in the wrenching genre of Oprah book club family dysfunction fare. The dysfunction extends through two generations here, plenty of material to mine for lousy parenting and distressing reality show-worthy bad behavior.

It is well done I suppose, as you would expect from Ron Howard, but I confess I have a low threshold for this genre and had to force myself to finish it. One bright light was that at least the brother and sister were there fir each other and counterbalanced the antics of Mom and Mamaw.

They show the real people at the end of the film, and I was intrigued by how close they tried to have the actors resemble them. But of course the home movies shown were all of positive moments in the family, as filming life’s awful moments blossomed much later with YouTube. So these cheerful videos acted to gloss over the pain and dysfunction the movie had worked so meticulously to represent throughout the two hour film.

"You don't know shit" is a hilarious quote by the grandmother to a young JD Vance. I had to laugh throughout the film at her portrayal, she seemed like a wild character with wilder makeup and costuming. But then I was humbled when I saw the true images of JD Vance's family at the end -- they absolutely nailed her visually.

Not necessarily the 'best' watch but definitely a fun one, and with Vance as a VP I feel like it is necessary. Talk about great PR.