I’m from Kentucky and I know many people that are like JD’s mom and I know many grandparents who had to raise their grandchildren because the parents are on drugs and can’t function. Thankfully my own immediate family has not had this issue but I see it everywhere. I think the film is honest, sometimes brutally so, but that’s the way it needed to be.
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
thank you. indeed, what's missing in talk about this film is the lack of depictions of the contemporary heartland. you'd think it'd be fine if they threw us a bone every once in awhile.
@pinx8850
3 жыл бұрын
Glenn Close is great!!!
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
better than I expected.
@JenniferVMovies
3 жыл бұрын
Totally want to check this out! Great video :)
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
thank you.
@kevzsabz8253
3 жыл бұрын
The main problem with this film is the screenplay, it seems like Vanessa Taylor (the screenwriter) didn't focused too much on the gritty and political aspects on J.D. Vance's memoir. The film itself looked like a watered down version of the book unfortunately. The performances are great especially, Adams, Close and Basso but the dialogues are too uneven. I did give this a 5.8/10. 😊😊
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
I'm betting that those who read the book will not like the movie so well.
@kevzsabz8253
3 жыл бұрын
@@LearningaboutMovies I actually read the book once only. But the film definitely deviates from the book for sure. 😊😊
@dannygillespie6614
3 жыл бұрын
5.8 is very specific and I admire that.
@amou95
8 ай бұрын
But why is the political aspect even important to the main gist of the story? The idea of Rons adaptation is to focus on the effects of generational trauma from dysfunctional families. Seems like a politically biased review to me.
@pedroprosper8778
3 жыл бұрын
I saw this movie yesterday I think it is great. The Portuguese title of the movie is "A lament of an America in ruins", which makes more sense for someone from the outside. The "American dream" does not land, in my perspective in foreign audiences, because it is something that isn't part of our reality. For me, the American Dream is just like, everyone's dream for a better life, and that I can relate with that if you keep "America" out of the dream. I think it is a universal struggle, looking for better living conditions, and not an American thing but I'm probably lacking some cultural background on this one to understand why it is called the "American Dream". I see this movie as a story of a man trying to thrive, managing the chaos around him, and keeping the old life apart from the new life. The end is not fulfilling, it seems like a cold cut in the story, but it makes sense, his life or everyone's lives didn't end there. I rarely cry in movies, but the scene where the grandmother and grandson were sharing food was too intense for me. It was so natural and candid. Glenn Close is brilliant.
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
excellent to receive a Portugeuse perspective. My guess is that the "American Dream" idea of helping yourself make a better life has spread throughout the world to some extent, causing us here in the States to lag behind some places in allowing the freedom to do so. The propaganda for over 150 years here has been just that, and it is a feature of our supposed best artworks, whether to praise or criticize it. Typically our heroes (e.g., Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Zuckerberg, Musk) have that rise-from-little/nothing quality.
@TTykwer
3 жыл бұрын
I was initially turned off a bit by the title - for uncertain reasons. I ended up liking the movie a whole lot and am thinking of reading the book. And about "cliches," I kind'a like them when they're in a great story.
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
viewers like to remind me that cliches are really tropes, though I say there's a difference, but "cliches" can be fun in a corny movie, useful in a mainstream movie, and provocative in a complex work of art. Nothing wrong with them, though the hallmark of bad screenplays is that they rely on cliches and pretend that they aren't cliches.
@millennialfalcon8958
3 жыл бұрын
The groupthink hwyte quasi-left wing virtue signaling hatred for Hillbilly Elegy is laughable. I read the book prior to the film version, and I'm also from southeeast KY. What he describes is wholly accurate of some people's lives in Appalachia, not everyone but a remarkable number of them. Vance is a republican, the hatred stems from there and the "poverty porn" Buzzfeed prepared talking point regurgitated by Gen Z Twitter ideologues is moot.
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
I usually believe that bias is less conscious than unconscious, and yet it is likely there. The hinterlands of the US are not currently in favor among the art/critic worlds, as they were in say the 1930s.
@millennialfalcon8958
3 жыл бұрын
@@LearningaboutMovies I can agree with that. The specific vitriol I witness, particularly from those who are also from Appalachia is forced. They feel obligated to object to something negative, albeit truthful, being put on display about our region, yet practically all of us flee and never return after high school or university. Although my observation is anecdotal, I have yet to see a person launch a concerted rebuke against Vance's book or the film who either still resides in Appalachia or has any connection to Appalachia. It's easy for my high school classmates and others from my area to sit in an ivory tower in Lexington or Louisville and proclaim "this is so negative" when they not only haven't lived in the mountains for over a decade, they had no intention of ever remaining there from adolescence onward. By no means am I unsympathetic to my fellow mountain people, far from it. But to get blindly angry about our demons being brought to light is more counterintuitive than pretend they don't exist. Acknowledgment is the first step to improvement. Yes, there are real life examples of parents who suffer from addiction who have to ask their kids to give them clean urine to stay employed. I can tell you first hand accounts of things like this happening, even in my extended family. I know dozens of people who have joined the military to escape and go to college and beyond, and Vance is demonized for this. I can't help but wonder just what the hell would satisfy this crowd? Was he supposed to marinade in an endless cycle of generational despondence? His path out isn't the path out for everyone, but what issue is there to take with his personal story other than the fact that he's unfortunately a MAGA loving Republican (which before anyone asks, I am neither)? These are just some things to keep in mind for anyone who is going to read the book or watch the film. Choose what you want to take from it, don't feel that you have to bear the satchels of uniformed contempt the "woke" Twitter mob demands you saddle up with to proceed in reading or viewing it.
@kevinmuendo9889
3 жыл бұрын
I dont think it's about not believing in the American dream, its that the US is ranked 27 on social mobility (below Estonia and Lithuania), and to claim cinematically or literarily that this is otherwise would just be facetious
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
the movie doesn't make that claim, though. in fact, it claims that social mobility is pretty damn hard and requires something Terminator-like. as well, anyway, movies are where we dream about what we might want -- this too is fair, despite whatever stats say. I watched this movie as about a particular person's problems, which I can identify with, and which, as my Facebook feed suggests, the people I grew up with from run-down factory cities also identify with. The bulk of critics, east and west coast in America, viewing this movie only ideologically, have not too much experience with that. The movie is not about solving social problems, maybe not even about identifying them, but trying to show Vance's ethical dilemma that is unsolvable. I myself am between the world of upper-class whites and lower-class, and the divide could not be more stark, as depicted in the movie. The question whether to flee or remain is real, and I don't see the movie arguing for "brain drain," just acknowledging that that is what Vance did, with consequences.
@kevinmuendo9889
3 жыл бұрын
@@LearningaboutMovies I agree with this analysis on the whole, as maybe it is due to me not being American (I'm British) and from an academic background, I see the ideological aspect of the film, which I'm sure as a lot of coastal critics also do (As you pointed out) however, I think being non-American gives this and the greater pantheon of "American dream" movies such a different perspective, I personally see nothing heartwarming about struggle stories (for example pursuit of happiness and generally poverty porn has become quite endemic in America of late) and yes anecdotal stories like this do exist, and yes it is nice to watch a bootstrap tale of karmic retribution but I personally think movies exist in a greater social matrix and too many stories like this aren't the best However, that saying, that doesn't mean its not a good movie, and if you identified with it, and enjoyed it that's its main purpose, and I may be doing too much lit-crit on a Netflix movie
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
except every person has to ask themselves "how do I alleviate my suffering" and how do I live a better life, and no, unfortunately almost no institution or government is going to help with that. most exist to keep people where they are, even as mental slaves. Pick on the "American Dream" for whatever reason, but you've got that, Stoicism, religion, and nearly nothing else to help you with the mess that is the life you were born into. also, lit crit is being done on everything, so it's fair game, though maybe not worth our time (which is another question altogether). thanks for the comments. very helpful.
@kevinmuendo9889
3 жыл бұрын
@@LearningaboutMovies it was really insightful discussion, hence the subscription although I do think your view of institutions and government is heavily Americentric, as i said I'm from Europe, institutions and government have been great! (not amazing but definitely good) especially in government back community action. I personally wouldn't have made it through covid without their help. I cant imagine living in a society where everyone has to look out for numero uno to such a high degree and it upsets me that you guys dont have the social welfare the rest of the developed world has although as you said, probably isn't constructive or the best use of one's time to look for social emancipatory legislation in a ron howard movie anyway looking forward to more of your reviews would love to hear your thoughts on the pinky violence films or Kalatozov
@kevinmuendo9889
3 жыл бұрын
@Matthew Reichlin I don't see how that goes against my point? Or how I have been misleading Your correct that the US and the UK have a deeply entrenched lower class, i think what you are describing is the relative income/productivity stagnation of the 1970s to now of both the US and the UK, which is very true. So all relative invitations that increase productivity (which their have been a lot) do not relatively improve wages of the working class. This is a failure of the private sector and a failure of the public sector to regulate this My criticism is the sheer amount of poverty porn that hyper fetishes the anecdotal "rags to riches" and hyper individualistic faux meritocracy that the US seems to think it has, and movies such as this take a highly reductive neoliberal standpoint compared to let's say a Ken loach film,
@mrrrl795
3 жыл бұрын
Maybe I'll check it out. The trailer makes it look really cliche and sappy (which you say it is to a degree). I am also a midwest guy and the subject matter of the opioid crisis is of great importance to me since I am pretty much in ground zero of it all. I never really considered that about what you said about the American Dream. Over the years, I've become highly cynical of it, though I suppose you are correct that there aren't really any alternatives to it (other than cynicism lol). I never read the book Hillbilly Elegy but I know a lot of people who have that said it was a great read.
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
cynicism is warranted because the giant corporations either crush or swallow entrepreneurship, plus the tech they are developing, while efficient and pleasurable, continue to erode ordinary social relations that have been the norm since forever, and probably are deep needs for all humans. the final choice in this movie is quite interesting to me -- leave your home and mother behind, or go back and help her. Both require significant sacrifices. I believe while this movie doesn't offer any social solutions, it at least describes some basic problems that a lot of people are faced with, the impossible choices that the final ethical decision is displaying. I read a critic who hated it, that very decision, but likely because he hasn't experienced the problems within the movie. Winter's Bone is far better, imo.
@aimeebrito1565
3 ай бұрын
It’s anything but cliche.’ It’s too raw and real for that. Give it a try, but if you’ve lived this as a child you might keep a box of Kleenex (or Scott toilet paper) at hand.
@kathleensalisbury2272
3 жыл бұрын
great review! i read the book a few years ago, and also enjoyed the movie. I keep thinking about small details, like only the young JD trying to watch the news. In the hopelessness of their situation, political news doesn't interest the others. The politicians, the coastal elites don't care about the rust belt. But JD could envision a way out, and he made it. Also why people in the rust belt voted for Trump. At last someone paid attention to them, even talks rough like them.
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
thank you. just remember that it's the big city folk who talk funny, not us.
@dannygillespie6614
3 жыл бұрын
This is why I love your channel: you're so unafraid to cut against the critical grain. Not knowing anything about the memoir, I thought it was a solid film. The acting was good, though I didn't love Basso and wanted more of Haley Bennett. I disagree that Glenn Close will get an Oscar nod unless it's as supporting actress (which is definitely possible). Lead actress is just too crowded this year. I also don't mind melodrama when it knows itself, and I think that's some of the appeal of this movie, too. I'm 7/10 or 7.5/10 which is around your scoring, and I just think the critics were unreasonably harsh on it, even if it isn't perfect. Imperfect movies that still have something interesting to say are what film studies is for.
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
thank you, though I just have run into a new release that depicts a transgender or non-binary child, and for the first time, I'm sweating a little bit about what to do with that. Good grief. not sure what was going on with critics and this movie, though I don't read but 1 or 2 of them. It's true that analysis should and ought to happen no matter how good or terrible a work is!
@dannygillespie6614
3 жыл бұрын
@@LearningaboutMovies I'm not sure what movie that is, but I am intrigued. I did find one really good review, but most of them were really misguided.
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
Palmer, on Apple TV. if you see the trailer, you've seen the entire movie.
@aimeebrito1565
3 ай бұрын
I thought it was “real” life that so many of the invisible class live. I could relate - but it’s too distressing to me even now to talk about, much less write it out. I also called my grandma “mammah”. I’m in great admiration of the author - J.D Vance, whom I didn’t even realize was a politician but he just became Pres. Trump’s Vice Presidential candidate. Talk about the American dream! I think this surely should boost the popularity of the movie. And if he ever becomes President of the United States it will surely become iconic, and inspirational to so many young people who are growing up with the same seeming obstacles.
@dannygillespie6614
3 жыл бұрын
I'm also more skeptical of the American Dream than I once was--or more skeptical that it's something to aspire to-- but I still liked the film. I can see why people didn't like it, but I'm glad I gave it a shot.
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
the film depicts an honest problem for a lot of people, and "brain drain" has been a real thing around the parts of the country where I have lived.
@dannygillespie6614
3 жыл бұрын
@@LearningaboutMovies I mean I grew up better off than the characters and in the northwest, but I still had a pang of relatability with the Saxon math book.
@theyoutubeanalyst3731
3 жыл бұрын
I mean... It wasn't groundbreaking, but I found it kind of fucking great as an emotive and intimate story. I don't actually think that it is necessary to believe in the american dream to enjoy it: I took it as a man sharing a very particular real life story; it worked for him, it's not mandatory that it works for someone else. I think the focus was on his relationship with his mom; I'm broke and even I can relate with that.
@LearningaboutMovies
3 жыл бұрын
thank you, yes that's pretty much what I said near the end of the video.
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