Wildcat Review: Ethan Hawke's Overindulgent Portrayal of a Literary Icon

Summary

• Maya Hawke excels as Flannery O'Connor in Wildcat, embodying the writer's struggles with faith and creativity convincingly.


• Director Ethan Hawke's use of fantasy sequences overwhelms the film, detracting from the narrative and causing pacing issues.


• Despite a talented cast and meaningful subject matter, Wildcat's emphasis on style over substance results in a forgettable experience.

Wildcat explores the formative early life of celebrated Southern Gothic novelist Mary Flannery O'Connor through vivid depictions of her imaginative writing process. The deeply devout O'Connor struggled to reconcile her Catholic faith with artistic ambitions while suffering from debilitating lupus. Director/co-writer Ethan Hawke, scion Maya Hawke, and a venerated supporting cast revel in an overindulgent portrayal that confuses creative expression for substantive depth. A ping-pong structure, where the ensemble plays multiple characters, grinds the pacing to a cinematic drip. There's a lot of effort on display. That's appreciated, but the experience becomes arduous and unfortunately forgettable.

Hawke opens Wildcat with a salacious black and white movie trailer of an O'Connor short story. This is the first taste of O'Connor (Maya Hawke) putting herself and her mother, Regina (Laura Linney), as fictional leads in distressing sexual, racial, and religious narratives; the overarching themes of her work. These fantasy vignettes are always signaled by the clacking of O'Connor's typewriter, her constant voice-over describing the action, and a nod to the actual events, people, or objects that served as inspiration.

Reality takes hold with a card placing O'Connor in 1950 New York City. She bristles while receiving criticism from a prospective publisher (Alessandro Nivola). Her labored additions to a submitted manuscript dilute the audience's focus. He believes she's purposely punishing them with the grotesque. O'Connor prays for guidance but can't afford to stay in New York and pursue her writing. She's seen off at the train station by her mentor, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Cal Lowell (Philip Ettinger). O'Connor is enthralled in his presence but cannot muster a romantic response.

A Mother and Daughter Reunion in Georgia

Wildcat

2/5

Directed by Ethan Hawke and starring his daughter Maya Hawke, Wildcat is based on the true story of Southern Gothic writer Flannery O'Connor as she is diagnosed with lupus. While struggling to come to terms with her condition, she sets out to make a mark in the writing world before her life is taken by the same illness that killed her father.

Release Date

May 3, 2024

Runtime

1h 45m

Studio(s)

Renovo Media Group , Under the Influence Productions , Good Country Pictures

Distributor(s)

Oscilloscope Laboratories

Pros

• Maya Hawke does a very good job as Flannery O'Conner.
• Ethan Hawke has tremendous style and the aesthetics of Wildcat are impressive.

Cons

• Wildcat wanders all over the place, avoiding its own narrative.
• The constant fantasy sequences become tedious.

The distressing trip back home to Milledgeville, Georgia, reveals the sickness that haunts her. O'Connor's face breaks out in red splotches. She shivers with cold while daydreaming of another story: a developmentally disabled farm girl (Hawke) who catches the eye of a one-armed tramp (Steve Zahn), much to the delight of her mother (Linney). The source of O'Connor's dread waits on the platform as the train pulls into the station. Regina is alarmed at the sight of her frail daughter. O'Connor sighs with exasperation as she's immediately whisked off to a doctor.

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O'Connor had a tremendous distaste for many aspects of her Southern upbringing. She lampoons her mother in fiction but was wholly dependent on Regina's care. The always brilliant Linney, who plays six characters including Regina, is a stalwart rock for her daughter. She doesn't understand why O'Connor can't write stories like Gone with the Wind, but never dissuades her precious child from pursuing the one thing that makes her happy. The complex relationship between O'Connor and her mother is the actual backbone of the film. Ethan Hawke's script highlights this but doesn't spend nearly enough time with them in actual settings.

Wildcat Gets Lost in Its Own Digressions

Wildcat's driving theme is O'Connor escaping physical and psychological torment through her mind. Every idea gets a mini adaptation that fleshes out the eventual published work that would catapult her to fame. The issue is the fire hose delivery of the execution. The asides take precedence over the narrative to a fault. There's a nonstop back and forth that becomes exhausting. Ethan Hawke needed to hold his ground with pertinent exposition. The fantasy scenes become excessive and lose their meaning. They may delight literary buffs, but turn into filler once you realize there's barely an hour of actual plot.

This conceit also affects the film's production values. Wildcat looks pretty good, but again lacks any restraint. There's erratic lighting, the characters freeze in frame, and a billowing smoke FX scene that's honestly puzzling. This visual overload is meant to contrast the crippling depression of O'Connor's daily life. It comes across as if Ethan Hawke wants to show every feather in his filmmaker's cap.

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Maya Hawke is an effective lead as O'Connor and her fictional variants. Wildcat will undoubtedly get the nepotism brand. That's not damning or insulting criticism in this case. Hawke has proven to be a versatile actress across different genres, from the arthouse eccentricity of Asteroid City to the big-budget popularity of Stranger Things. She has good chemistry with Linney. You empathize with her as lupus ravages O'Connor's body and soul. Yes, another actress could have played the part. But she's not a weak link and deserves respect for an engaging performance.

2:32

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Flannery O'Connor was a remarkable but conflicted woman who achieved literary greatness in spite of a terminal illness that ended her life at age 39. Wildcat has an abundance of talent in front and behind the camera. It's obvious that everyone involved in the film was passionate about her life and writing. What's missing is a more measured approach that incorporates the fantasy elements without letting them dominate the runtime. That would have eased a sluggish delivery and bolstered the dramatic impact.

Wildcat is a production of Renovo Media Group, Good Country Pictures, and Under the Influence Productions. It's currently in limited theatrical release with nationwide expansion on May 10th.