Page 14 - aruba-today-20201114

a14 people & arts
Saturday 14 November 2020
Review: A 'Hillbilly Elegy' adaptation, hold the politics

By JAKE COYLE Close, who was so brilliantly
AP Film Writer subtle in 2018's "The Wife,"
J.D. Vance's "Hillbilly Elegy," has just about broke the
an election-year explainer needle in the other direc-
to liberal America about tion. Her Mamaw takes in
the white underclass that young J.D. after a series of
fueled Donald Trump's rise, incidents with Bev, and it's
has been reborn as blandly in those scenes that "Hillbilly
overbaked awards bait. Elegy" works best. Close's
Ron Howard's adaptation, performance is over-the-
penned by Vanessa Taylor, top but there's grit and
has mostly done away with strength in it.
the moralizing social exami- It's harder to find something
nation that made Vance's to hold on to in Adams' per-
bestseller — the second half formance. Her character is
of that subtitle, "A Memoir such a loud, grating mess
of a Family and Culture in of fury, pain and addic-
Crisis" — such a lightning tion that Adams struggles
rod. The 2016 book came to make her coherent. It
at the moment many were might be less the fault of
searching for explanations Adams than the prevail-
for the political shift taking ing high pitch of the film,
place across Appalachia which by condensing sev-
and the Rust Belt. "Hillbilly eral generations of struggle
Elegy," a pick-yourself-up- This image released by Netflix shows Haley Bennett, from left, Glenn Close and Owen Asztalos in doesn't allow room for rumi-
by-your-bootstraps cultural a scene from "Hillbilly Elegy." nation. Howard, a humane
critique-slash-tribute to the Associated Press and sensitive director, has
author's Ohio-Kentucky made a film full of empathy
heritage, emerged as one batable parts of the book, ture. If the book begat a cusp of a major job inter- but missing a wider lens.
of the trendiest answers. but it's also denuded it of blizzard of op-eds, the film view to the decaying steel And by taking politics out
Howard's film arrives on the any deeper purpose, leav- is more likely to inspire only down of Middletown, Ohio. of "Hillbilly Elegy," the movie
heels of another election ing us with a cosplay shell memes of its most Appala- The trip forces him to reck- has unwittingly put some
cycle without a whiff of the of A-list actors chewing chia soap opera moments. on with his roots, bringing back in. Instead of a tale
same analysis — Vance rural scenery. Howard's It's a jumble of timelines back a flood of memories emerging from a seldom
wrote of "learned help- "Hillbilly Elegy," in theaters but the basic shape of "Hill- just as he's leaving his past listened-to corner of the
lessness" and "something Wednesday and on Netflix billy Elegy" is a reluctant behind. world, Howard's film has re-
almost spiritual about the on Nov. 24, is well-meaning. homecoming. J.D. Vance Some memories are better versed course. Hollywood
cynicism of the commu- But it teeters constantly on (Gabriel Basso as an adult, than others. Anything with rushes in, wigs in tow.
nity at large" — and he in- the edge of parody, never Owen Asztalos as a kid) grandma, for starters, is "Hillbilly Elegy," a Netflix
stead leans into the colorful slowing down enough to let gets a call from his sister something to behold. That's release, is rated R by the
and difficult characters of its characters — a shouty, (Haley Bennett) that their because Glenn Close, bur- Motion Picture Association
Vance's family for a neater melodramatic bunch fight- mother Bev (Amy Adams) ied under prosthetics, a of America for language
redemption arc. That has ing through a chaotic world has overdosed. Leaving his coral reef of frizzy hair and throughout, drug content
a dual effect. This "Hillbilly of poverty, addiction and girlfriend (Freida Pinto), he plate-sized glasses, is the and some violence. Run-
Elegy" has stripped away abuse — come through as drives home from Yale Law crochety, cigarette-smok- ning time: 115 minutes. Two
the most sermonizing, de- much more than carica- School when he's on the ing, foul-mouthed Mamaw. stars out of four.q

Sculpture celebrating Mary Wollstonecraft draws criticism

LONDON (AP) — A sculp- stonecraft as the mother criticism even before it was asked why male intellec- stonecraft in north London,
ture celebrating Mary Woll- of feminism has attracted unveiled. tuals and historical figures near where she lived and
Artist Maggi Hambling said haven't been celebrated set up a girls' boarding
the sculpture in London with nude statues. school. The author died
"celebrates the spirit of Defending the sculpture, aged 38 after the birth of
Mary Wollstonecraft," the Hambling said that it wasn't her daughter, the writer
author of the 18th-century meant to be a "historical Mary Shelley.q
treatise "A Vindication of likeness" and that the figure
the Rights of Woman." The at the top of the artwork "is Solution Sudoku
artwork, cast in silvered open and challenging the
bronze, features a small world."
nude female figure emerg- "Clothes define people …
ing from a large abstract As she's Everywoman, I'm
mass of female forms. not defining her in any par-
The sculpture was unveiled ticular clothes," she said.
Tuesday after a decade of "It's not a conventional he-
campaigning and fundrais- roic or heroinic likeness of
ing, but many critics took Mary Wollstonecraft. It's a
This undated handout photo issued by the Mary on the Green to Twitter to question why sculpture about now, in her
campaign of Maggi Hambling's 'A Sculpture for Mary Wollstone-
craft' which has been unveiled on Newington Green, London. it had to feature a naked spirit."
Associated Press female figure. Writer Cait- Campaigners have worked
lin Moran, among others, for years to celebrate Woll- Puzzle on Page 13