Wildcat

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 saw WILDCAT on May 19th, 2024. This was at Cinema Arts Centre in Huntington, New York. The audience stayed for the entirety of the end credits. Only I do that. I think this means that this was an audience of readers. Flannery O'Connor was the draw.

WILDCAT tells a little about the life of the author of the novel WISEBLOOD. I know Flannery O'Connor's reputation: She was the ultimate Iowa Writers Workshop figure; she was a serious Catholic from the deeply Protestant deep South; and she wrote the greatest short story ever written by an American, "A Good Man Is Hard To Find."

The movie will best be understood in comparison to other movies of the last thirty or so years dealing with the lives of creative people. Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollack and Thomas Wolfe have been subjects of films. FRIDA was stunning, but it had, in common with most relatively recent cinematic treatments of the lives of artists, the goal of pointing the audience to the works the subjects created. Frida Kahlo, like Herman Melville, suddenly caught the world's attention decades after death. Pollack was very famous in his lifetime and his work is never out of fashion. Thomas Wolfe remains a colorful author nobody has much patience for; the movie is focused solely on his working relationship with the great American editor, Maxwell Perkins. Wolfe, the historical figure, remains recognizable to people who love books. But nobody loves his books. (Well, nobody I love does.)

WILDCAT is Ethan Hawke's entry into this field. I started reading WISEBLOOD once. I read three of O'Connor's stories and I've read a fair number of HARPER'S BAZAAR and/or ATLANTIC MONTHLY articles about her. I've seen her mentioned in many a discursion in THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW. I almost borrowed THE VIOLENT BEAR IT AWAY today. But I put it back on the shelf after reading half of the first paragraph. Someone had borrowed WISEBLOOD, and O'Connor's story collections are due back at the library in a few weeks. People are reading her right now. I decided to let someone else's eyes rest on THE VIOLENT BEAR IT AWAY.

I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. I was the only person in that audience of Flannery O'Connor fans (or industry insiders) who allowed himself to be heard laughing at the funny parts. O'Connor's sardonic humor is much more prominent than that Sacred Heart stuff she made so terrifying. The movie weaves actual conversations from O'Connor's life with scenes from her fiction, and many characters from her life are played by the same actors acting out the short stories. What I found really intriguing was that the movies presented PARTS of stories. (I have pointed out I have read three of her stories, but I'm certain that all the ones adapted here are treated in part. The opening of the movie is from one of the stories I read. Ethan Hawke wants to pique our interest in O'Connor's work, and he shows us a Flannery O'Connor who adapts what she experiences or witnesses. O'Conner's mother, played by Laura Linney, crops up in different guises in the stories, as does O'Connor herself.

Ethan Hawke's movie features his daughter - Maya Hawke is a first-rate actress, by the way - playing a woman who puts herself and her mother in her fiction. Years and years ago, when Ethan Hawke was in his early twenties, he published a book, and I remember the skepticsim with which this was met. But he consistently emphasizes a life of reading; of play-going and, I would say, salvation through the written word. Put him in a category with the Wyeths; Lloyd Bridges and his family; or the Wainwright and McGarrigle families. There is a tradition of creative families and Ethan Hawke's is one of these. Nobody else was going to offer a sincere treatment of the literary art of the short-lived, uncompromising author at the center of WILDCAT. Nobody else wanted to show the legacy Flannery O'Connor left the reading public.

Knowing some little about O'Connor or her writing will help you enjoy WILDCAT. But you might see it and then seek out her books.

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).

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.

I struggled to understand Maya Hawke who croaks and whispers in a thickly-accented incoherent drawl. Subtitles reveal a clunky yet occassionally interesting script full of overwrought, flowery dialogue that often shines. Unfortunately, it's a story without much impact, especially if you're unfamiliar with O'Connor (as I am).

The plot is fragmented into non-linear episodes that highlight her various struggles; professional, personal, historical and theological. But they never really get beyond surface level.

Ethan Hawke should be commended for his blend of dialogue, music and imagery to create a hypnotic feel. It's very heavy on post-production filters, sadly, which smothers the otherwise decent photography.

I found it slow, over-cooked and bland. But it's a 'feel' movie and if you like the vibes of the trailer, it's basically two hours of that.