Hillbilly Elegy
netflixHillbilly Elegy is the type of film that simply washes over you. It’s not awful, but it certainly is not great and it’s this thin middle ground that director Ron Howard has stumbled upon and unabashedly refined with this effort for Netflix.
One might expect there to be some substance in this adaptation of JD Vance’s memoir, the once well-knownNew York Times best-seller. However, subtlety doesn’t quite make it into the arcs of Vanessa Taylor’s screenplay. The general premise revolves around three generations of a certain Appalachian family, the Vances, from the mid-90s to mid-2010s. Glenn Close portrays Mamaw, the matriarch of the family, Amy Adams is Bev, Mamaw’s daughter and mother to both Lindsay (Haley Bennet) and JD (Gabriel Basso), whilst Owen Asztalos plays a younger version of the character.
It is clear that the attraction here is supposed to be the cast, with the purported intention of garnering Oscar nominations on the table for both Close and Adams, long before the cameras started rolling. Hillbilly Elegy may be shameless Oscar bait, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been a great showcase for two powerhouse talents. Unfortunately, it’s not quite that either.
Adams, especially, suffers from a general lack of development. Bev flits between boyfriends relentlessly, whilst struggling to overcome a heroin addiction, as well as attempting to raise her two children. Taylor lacks the foresight to flesh out her characters, so instead of ever deciding to explore or explain Bev’s actions – a brief flashback is thrown into the mix in a rather weak attempt to get the audience to sympathise – and focuses very much on the drama. The film is packed full of scenes in which Bev abuses her children, verbally and physically. She constantly puts herself first and it’s rare that a nice side of her is actually shown, despite the overall intention of the film to create positive feelings towards her.
The attempt to explore generational family secrets feels largely missed, too. Young JD ends up wanting to move in with Mamaw, in an attempt to escape his hysterical mother. In what was supposed to be a huge shift for JD, in him realising his Mamaw is largely to blame for how Bev turned out and that she’s no saint herself, feels rushed over and largely non corporeal. Instead, the viewer is treated to a handful of scenes where Mamaw and JD bond. The drama and trauma of the fractured family is quickly forgotten.
It’s hard to call Hillbilly Elegy a bad film. However, all the elements that could have made it engrossing and relevant fall several marks too short and the end result is a hollow and forgettable entry in the filmic world.