Wish You Well

This movie is stunning with a lovely lilting pace, beautiful photography and a cast of actors young and old to be proud of. I would never have guessed this is a low budget film. It is superbly done.

This is a simplistic review as it reflects a simplistic but touching story.

I grew up in the NRV. Giles county was just over Cloyd's Mountain. The plot of the film is spotty in places, slow to develop and lacks real continuity, with fits and starts. The cinematography does well to catch the nuances of the Valley though there are some hiccups.

Ellen Burstyn, Mackenzie Foy, Alano Miller all do extremely well in their respective roles. Josh Lucas as a compassionate attorney and Ned Bellamy as the primary antagonist contribute well to the stories inside the story.

The last few scenes are rushed and somewhat trite, but I recommend 'Wish You Well' as an escape to another place, another time that seem more relevant than ever.

Pop some corn, find a comfortable place and enjoy the scenery, the slow pace and throw in some Dots to complete this 101 minutes of a rather good movie.

No, it's not action packed as is usually the case with a lot of movies now, but more importantly it took me to another time and place. A place that I didn't want to leave. I'm not going into details, I want you to watch this. I honestly savored every minute of this movie and took my sweet time watching it. Very well crafted and edited and I was honestly surprised at the seemingly simple ease at going back in time, to another place and taking you right along with them. I cannot recommend this enough. James Welch Henderson, Arkansas 11/26/2020

Some viewers will find this a bit slow for them, but if you perceivere you will love it.

I don't think I have ever seen an Ellen Burstyn performance that I did not like and MacKenzie Foy was just excellent in her role. In fact both children were rather well played by MacKenzie Foy and JP Vanderloo.

If you are not into historical stories or aren't fond of feel good movies, give this a miss, you probably won't like it either. This is no lovey dovey romance, but it is a really good movie that can be watched by most, although not necessarily appreciated by all.

Overall I really liked it and recommend it to anyone who wants to feel good about the world for a moment.

6/10

Ellen Burstyn and MacKenzie Foy are well cast. The setting of the movie in 1940 and Southwest Virginia are both nostalgic and beautiful. The movie faithfully follows the excellent book by the same name. The story moves along with a good pace. Josh Lucas' portrayal of a country lawyer is very believable. Keith Tyree handles his part very professionally. The different areas for filming were well chosen with the courthouse very representative of a period building. The antique vehicles picked to compliment the year 1940 were a good touch. The cinematography and sound is well done. The editing had a few areas that overlooked some obvious mistakes such as the 1938 Buick had 1938 license plates rather than the correct 1940 ones. There was a cell tower on a hill in the background and there were round bales of hay which wouldn't have around in 1940. All in all, a wonderful film.