Flannery O'Connor's thrilling, gritty stories about the unreconstructed South and its redemption-deficient discontents will never lose their power to awaken us with their violence, humor, and ugly truth.
Such great, complicated artists don't deserve the superficial cradle-to-grave treatment common to so many biopics, and thankfully Ethan Hawke's new film, “Wildcat,” isn't that. Rather, it is a moving, searing and unconventional grappling with the mysteries of the deeply Catholic, norm-breaking Georgia native's life and work. Focused on a pivotal moment of promise and disappointment during O'Connor's 20s, when her writing was gaining attention (as was the lupus that would eventually consume her), it is anchored with painful intelligence by Hawke's daughter, Maya (” Stranger Things”), unrecognizable. stern with cat-eye glasses and a fragile countenance.
The Hawkes offer a portrait of O'Connor in all her fierce self-awareness, whether standing her ground against a condescending New York editor (Alessandro Nivola) who believes she wants to “pick a fight” with her readers, or sternly defending her faith. . against glib comments at an Iowa Writers' Workshop party. But we also see this O'Connor at her weakest, cowering in the presence of her protective mother, Regina (Laura Linney), when she is forced to return home due to to his illness, and almost breaking down in the presence of a priest (a wonderful Liam Neeson). ). Ethan Hawke's screenplay, co-written with Shelby Gaines, was inspired by the letters to God that O'Connor wrote at the time, published posthumously as “A Prayer Journal” in 2013.
This stretch of ambition and setback from a life too short is not all that “Wildcat” offers. Maya Hawke's acting duties also involve playing a variety of O'Connor characters in shortened dramatizations of short stories: “The Life You Save May Be Your Own,” “Parker's Back,” and a few other classic pieces. In those in which bold, daring men bring thunder and change to unsuspecting young women (all Mayans), scene partners Steve Zahn, Rafael Casal and Cooper Hoffman do memorable work.
These segments diverge in tone, color, and movement from the muted palette and fixed compositions with which cinematographer Steve Cosens anchors the biographical narrative. But they are expertly intertwined, suggesting how a creative loner can experience flashes of imagination when the world reveals itself. Movies often struggle to convey the writer's inspiration, but these samples really deliver on a powerful O'Connor quote that Hawke begins with: “I'm always irritated by people who imply that writing fiction is an escape from reality. It is an immersion in reality and it is very impactful for the system.”
Meanwhile, Linney, at the top of her game, is another constant in multiple roles, vividly playing a handful of O'Connor's fictional mothers (including the self-righteous women of “Revelation” and “Everything That Rises Must Converge”). Even before she appeared as the cool, old-fashioned Regina, picking up her long-suffering daughter at the train station, we'd seen her in a couple of these adaptations (including a clever rendition of “The Comforts of Home” as a trailer). creepy 60s B movie).
And yet, surprisingly, Linney and Hawke's double duty never comes across as a cheap psychologization of the writer's relationship with a father who didn't understand her. It feels broader than that. (At the same time, O'Connor's own views on race, the source of much of the reassessment of her reputation, are not exactly stated here, but they are not ignored either.) The symbolic reward of Ethan Hawke's brilliant use of his and Linney's daughter is that we understand both the intense narrowness of O'Connor's subject and the rich versatility within her Gothic archetypes.
Following in the footsteps of director Ethan Hawke's excellent docuseries “The Last Movie Stars,” about Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, “Wildcat” shows that his skills in front of the camera are also complemented behind it, especially when the subject is a life woven with art, passion and pain.
'Wildcat'
Not qualified
Execution time: 1 hour, 48 minutes
Playing: AMC city of the century
