Wildcat

Whether you're a devotee of writer Flannery O'Connor or unfamiliar with her work, 'Wildcat' is a very intriguing film. It challenged me like no other film I've seen in years.

O'Connor was a Southern writer in the mid-twentieth century whose life was cut short by lupus. The movie not so much examines her life and work as puts you in the middle of it. It's like a dreamlike poem, with snippets of the artist's life seguing into vignettes from her short stories and vice versa. At times I wasn't sure if I was watching a scene from the artist's life or from her work.

'Wildcat' is not for everyone but it is a beautiful film and should please the arthouse crowd and certainly readers of Flannery O'Connor.

The film was a labor of love for its star Maya Hawke, who was an executive producer. You might know Ms. Hawke from TV's "Stranger Things". To me, her performance in 'Wildcat' is a revelation. She brings the artist to life, capturing her vulnerability, creative fire and physical frailty. Hawke plays multiple roles in the film in the various vignettes inspired by O'Connor's short stories.

Esteemed stage and screen veteran Laura Linney hits the mark as O'Connor's well-meaning but sometimes clueless Southern Belle mother. Linney also plays multiple roles in the film's dreamlike vignettes.

Renaissance man Ethan Hawke, Maya's father, directed and captured the sweeping southern landscapes as if they were postcards and much of the cinematography is achingly beautiful. The story goes that this was Maya's project all the way, and that Ethan had to be interviewed to get the job directing his daughter.

Whether or not 'Wildcat' will find a large audience, its lasting legacy will be that people like me will find the work of Flannery O'Connor. It will also mark a turning point in the career trajectory of Maya Hawke, who is an artist to keep an eye on.

It appears that a lot of people have left poor ratings for this film without leaving a review to say why. Perhaps they are encountering Flannery for the first time and the shock was too much. I saw this film last night and thought it was wonderful. The script artfully mixes together scenes from what is known of Flannery's life, entries from her prayer journal, and brief reenactments of five of her stories (The Life You Save May Be Your Own, Revelation, Parker's Back, Everything That Rises Must Converge, and Good Country People). Bravo to Maya Hawke, she is a tour de force, appearing as Flannery and in all five of the stories. Strong support from Laura Linney and the rest of the cast. I'm looking forward to a re-watching sometime, hoping to catch things I missed.

The film is a melding of Flannery O'Connor's life with several of her stories as she labors to write after a diagnosis of Lupus. She's living on her mother's Georgia farm but corresponding with her editor in New York. While she writes her novel "Wise Blood" she also churns out a bunch of short stories.

Maya Hawke is excellent as O'Connor and several of the characters in the stories as is Laura Linney as the mother and several characters in the stories. The film is directed and co-written by Ethan Hawke.

When I was still teaching American Short Stories classes I would always xerox off a few O'Connor stories and Robert McAlmon's "The Jack Rabbit Drive" to add to the book we had to use. The film recreates a few scenes from O'Connor's story "The Life You Save May Be Your Own," and I remembered from reading biographical material that she had sold this story and a TV adaptation was made and how she howled in disbelief that they miscast Gene Kelly as the main character.

Well, good old Youtube sports this 26-minute horror with Gene Kelly as Tom Triplett (it's Shiftlet in the story) the one-armed handyman who comes upon the dirt farm of Mrs Crater and her daughter Lucy Nell. Agnes Moorehead and Janice Rule play the women. The ending is totally changed (and ruined) by the Schlitz Playhouse adaptation. The role is totally out of Kelly's depth (Kelly was never a very good actor). O'Connor never sold another story to be filmed in her lifetime.

Anyway, Wildcat is well worth tracking down even if you're not familiar with O'Connor's singular world view.

Wildcat is the story of Flannery O'Connor (Maya Hawke), a Southern Catholic writer who lived from 1925 to 1964 and was disabled by Lupus in her later years. Although the movie shows O'Connor traveling to Iowa and New York to further her writing career, most of the plot takes place in her family's home as she types away on multiple drafts of her stories while the disease takes its toll. O'Connor is shown as socially awkward, and her mother and others cannot comprehend the motivations for her fiction. Possessing a strong faith, she explores the bizarre and twisted ways in which people can be affected by religion.

Interspersed with slow-moving scenes of O'Connor's life (non-chronological) are scenes from her fiction, acted out by the same cast of characters. Where the real segues into the fictional is sometimes hard to discern. The fictional scenes provide some insight into O'Connor's mindset but, having not read her writing in many years, I was hoping for even more insight into the influences on her writing (I probably hoped for too much). The movie is a portrait of a troubled soul that will interest her devoted readers and perhaps entice others to sample her offbeat fiction.

I was able to attend the premiere in Savannah, and this is how Maya Hawke introduced us to the film: it's their poem about Flannery. It's not meant to be an exact representation. That said, it's not for everyone (thankfully) and I left with my heart full and my brain spinning.

It's a fever dream. It's a woman coming to grips with her immense talent and ambition housed in a body that is failing her. It's a search for grace and a struggle for goodness.

I thought it was beautifully made, and the acting very well done. As a Georgia native I found the accents just fine and, at the very least, not distracting. (I can't say I was thinking about accents; far too many other things to focus on!) The title comes from one of her short stories, "Wildcat," and I think fits her very well: feisty, strong-willed, sharp teeth (or tongue, as you will).