An urgent phone call pulls a Yale Law student back to his Ohio hometown, where he reflects on three generations of family history and his own future.An urgent phone call pulls a Yale Law student back to his Ohio hometown, where he reflects on three generations of family history and his own future.An urgent phone call pulls a Yale Law student back to his Ohio hometown, where he reflects on three generations of family history and his own future.
- Nominated for 2 Oscars
- 3 wins & 33 nominations total
Jono Mitchell
- Kevin
- (as Jonothon Mitchell)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
Excellent, magnificent, the performances of Glenn Close (10) and Amy Adams (9).
Don't know why there are such low scores and reviews, it was a very engaging movie, and the acting all round was top notch.
Trying to figure out why the critics' score is so different from the user score and all I can think is because the former is detached from the reality of rural white poverty. Living and teaching in an area similar to where J.D. comes from, I see his struggle of trying to escape poverty through education and the impact of drug abuse on communities on a regular basis. It's easy to dismiss this as "Oscar bait" and it definitely is...but it's also a movie, though really difficult to watch at points, that tells the uncomfortable reality for far too many.
While I hoped this movie would be more well made then it was, it was still great to watch. It was nice to see a movie that felt very familiar, especially coming out on a big streaming platform like Netflix. They did a good job with this one. Glenn Close was amazing every second she was on camera, and definitely carried the film. The music was nice too, and the film feels very authentic. It might not be perfect, but Hillbilly Elegy should definitely pique anyone's curiosity and be able to hold on to them for the entirety of the film. Go watch it and decide.
Well I had a great review written but it was erased when I switched to another site to fact check some other movies.
What I wanted to say was this is a hard movie to watch. It's hard bc it's honest. We all have our struggles and this is another depiction of an honest struggle families have. In America we like to place labels. In this case the labels are hillbilly, red neck, or white trash. It's all true, but it doesn't mean that's bad. It means it's honest. It makes me think of other honest movies about American families like Crooklyn, Ordinary People or Kramer vs Kramer.
In this year of 2020 the word struggle comes up time and again, but let's not forget another truly American symbolic word .... perseverance. Watch this movie and know that if you're down and feel like the world is against you just keep fighting and persevere. I hope this movie can inspire that feeling. It did for me.
Did you know
- TriviaThe huge glasses Glenn Close wears in the movie are "Mamaw's" actual frames. The family loaned them to Close during production.
- GoofsAt the beginning, Bev takes her family back to Ohio from Jackson, Kentucky. A "Welcome to Ohio" sign is visible as they pass over a stone bridge that spans a large creek. The entire border between Kentucky and Ohio is the Ohio River, which averages a half-mile across with steel-span bridges at every crossing.
- SoundtracksDivertimento No. 10 in F Major, K. 247
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Performed by Swedish Chamber Orchestra
Conducted by Petter Sundkvist
Courtesy of Naxos
By arrangement with Source/Q
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Hillbilly, una elegía rural
- Filming locations
- Middletown, Ohio, USA(exterior scenes)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $45,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 56 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.39 : 1
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