User reviews

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.

Wildcat (2023) directed by Ethan Hawke is an attempt on creating a portrait of auguished writer, Flannery O'Connor. The lead actress, Maya Hawke (daughter of Ethan Hawke/Uma Thurman) takes a huge leap to portray the Lupus illed short fiction writer.

There are quiet, dreamlike moments in this film, giving insight to race and class through the writers and the Southern scenes. There's playful scenes of intertwining O'Connor's short stories with historical facts.

At the end, the scenery filmed in Kentucky, carries a strong narrative with a decent soundtrack, hoping to bring it to the finish line. The film become a little lost -- not knowing if it goes on a religious or spiritual route on O'Connor story or take a hard look at racism and class in the southern intellectual culture.

It's ending, shows an the tortured health of the writer continues and does the writing without knowing life's complexity, a maybe tribunal nod to the Catholic devout O'Connor.

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.

A weird movie based on the work ok some author only intelectual people know, there is a lot of cameos by friends of the director Ethan Hawke, his daughter is good in this, she is clearly not a nepobaby like others, she knows how to act, the rest of cameos are fine, especially Neeson and Zach, overall it's just a poetic and interesting movie, its hard to follow, but its kinda worth watching it some raining sunday after exercising. Its the type of movie to watch while you gaming

There is a couple of boring religious stuff, other than that it's a good time in my books. Another decent Hawke directional movie.

WILDCAT, based on the stories of Flannery O'Connor, was even worse than my worst fears! Flannery O'Connor is one of my favorite writers, so I was thrilled that somebody was making a movie of her short stories. Previous attempts to film her work have yielded mixed results. (The best was WISE BLOOD with Brad Dourif and Harry Dean Stanton; most notorious was the TV version of "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" with Gene Kelly and a tacked-on happy ending.) This one takes on O'Connor's life after she has been diagnosed with Lupus (the disease that killed her father) and is frantically trying to write her very best before her death at age 39. Interspersed with the biographical episodes are vignettes from some of her short stories, which make no sense when removed from their contexts. It's an incomprehensible mess (starting with the title-there are no wildcats in O'Connor's work and she, a fanatical Catholic girl, could hardly be called one), with the same actors portraying real people Flannery knew and the characters she based on them. If you are not familiar with O'Connor and her work, I doubt this will make any sense at all. Top it off with the cringeworthy attempts at Southern accents by most of the actors. I enjoyed a few moments of it, but that's primarily because I had a frame of reference. Flannery's fans tend to be very possessive of her. I am no exception. I thought this was heartbreakingly bad.

A hawke family project; ethan hawke, directing his daughter, who has the lead role as author flannery o'connor. Her mother is played by the amazing laura linney. In the film, flannery seems to be a bystander in her own stories; frequently about the south, or religious folk, there is often a theme of races, religion, or the different classes of wealth. Sometimes violence or odd behavior, in the name of one's faith. Much discussion of letting the doctor examine her, and about thirty five minutes in, we learn of her lupus. There's also a constant humming, or odd themed music in the background, adding to the mysterious, dramatic themes. There's a pretty thorough entry for o'connor in wikipedia dot org. The film gets pretty intense, as were her own stories. A couple times, the other people in a scene will freeze for a moment, and I found this distracting and confusing. It's mostly good. Shining a light on a writer most of us were not familiar with.

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.

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.

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.

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).

As my title suggests, it is hard to describe how I feel about this movie. By the middle I was overwhelmed with emotion. By the end I was meditating on life. This movie is so profound, original, well-crafted and executed. Melding her stories with her life may be difficult for some to follow but hang in there. As Flannery says in her opening comments, fiction is reality. The fiction writer that she was was a dark soul who lived to dig deep and find meaning in every aspect of life. Whether the meaning was positive or negative didn't matter. She had to live as long as she could and created other lives to live them as well. After seeing the movie I had to come home, sit outside and contemplate.

As a major fan of Flannery O'Connor's writing, I went in to Wildcat without allowing myself to get my hopes up, in fear that they'd somehow have butchered her story/stories. Instead, I was wonderfully suprised.

Though a low budget/small feature, with the occasional rough edge here or there, it is a well-made tribute to Flannery's life and work that, most importantly, gets the FEELING of her work and dark humor very right. Many lines of dialogue are pulled from her excellent correspondence or essays. The vignettes from her fiction are fine, the best being the short adaptation of Parker's Back.

Great performances (including one surprise cameo), particularly from Maya Hawke. The film looks really good, with strong period production (and a fun surprise trailer at the beginning.) Nuanced and honest portrayals of faith and big ideas.

All told, a worthy offering that deserves to be watched by anyone interested in her life or work, especially as an entry point to her fiction. Recommended!

As one reviewer has stated, Flannery was greatly influenced by her theological/spiritual beliefs (Catholic/Christian) and these beliefs are reflected in the stories and characters we meet in her stories. Without this understanding the reader might not fully comprehend what she is expressing in her stories nor the depth of what she is writing about.

As is stated by Flannery in the film Wildcats, some make the mistake of believing that Christianity is like a "warm blanket" in a cold world, whereas Christianity teaches that life is difficult and can be painful (the cross) but there is salvation and hope for all.

It's a partial biopic of Flannery O'Connor (Maya Hawke), the American novelist and short-story writer between 1948 and about 1953. It's set in New York City, Iowa City, Iowa, and Milledgeville, Georgia. It portrays O'Connor as an obsessive, eccentric writer who is socially inept and profoundly affected by her Roman Catholic faith. Her stories reflect her personality with characters near the psychological edges or with marked handicaps.

"Wildcat" presents biographical scenes with her mother, Regina (Laura Linney) and aunt (Christine Dye), her writing mentor, Robert Lowell (Philip Ettinger), and her priest (Liam Neeson). Frequently interspersed are short fantastical scenes from her short stories in which Flannery and her mother have significant roles embedded in the story's characters. We meet many quirky characters in these scenes. The film ends as Flannery leans into her hereditary illness and embraces her writing.

"Wildcat" includes no great action scenes but does a marvelous job of uncovering O'Connor's struggle to reconcile her writing with her life in rural Georgia, living with people who don't understand her art. Her struggle with her Christian faith is also well portrayed. Ethan Hawke's cinematic balance between O'Connor's life and her story characters is remarkable.

Writing is a creative process-the movie builds an arc by going back and forth from Flannery O'Connors real life to the stories she writes. We see her determination, fierce authenticity and bravery through her mother's parenting, a love interest, the prejudices, difficulties and limited knowledge of the times and O'Connor's efforts to both get published and stay true to her own voice, pushing the medium of writing itself. The issue (for my friend too) was not being able to catch all the sentences-sometimes the intimate voices got lost in mumbling, and I believe every word is important here. Still got a lot. It has a great ending as well, bringing many things home.

Wildcat is a series of images combining the true story of the life of Flannery O'Connor with snippets of her popular short stories, brilliantly told in context of the situations Flannery lived and the people whom she based her characters upon.

It's a moving portrait of one woman's internal struggle with introversion, darkness, depression and physical illness as she strove to grow in her art. This film reveals how illness and isolation allowed Flannery O'Connor to flourish as a writer in contrast to the way that travel and romance failed her talent.

Her faith is a central theme though she strays frequently with her seemingly uncharitable attitudes towards most other people, ranging from the ignorant racists and shallow social climbers that surrounded her in the American South to the clever literary types she encountered while living in larger cities.

I don't think it will appeal at all to anyone who doesn't know who Flannery O'Connor is, or to people who haven't at least become familiar with some of her fiction. It would be too confusing either as a straight biopic or even as a coherent study of her literary accomplishments. If anything it may encourage a re-reading or deeper examination of O'Connor's stories.

Maya Hawke gives a convincing performance but also plays Flannery O'Connor so, so ugly. I think there's something truly awkward about Maya Hawke - ironically the child of two parents who were beautiful Hollywood stars in their youth - so it may have been Hawke's natural ugliness overshadowing her acting. Portraying a 24-25 year old Flannery, she looks much more like the withered and prematurely aged writer prior to her death at 39 which is unsettling.

At first, watching this film I was not sure about the narrative flow. About 15 minutes into the film, I was able to follow it's non-linear structure. What ended up was a beautifully made film with excellent performances.

Having never read any of the works by Flannery O'Connor, I will definitely be reading it now.

As a Roman Catholic, this film was more moving to me than a lot of tripe that is normally put out. It is very easy to be like everyone else and live frivolously, but when you try to live up to your conscience (and often fail), you can certainly understand the struggles Flannery went through.

Yeah, well this movie is art house. It's not for everyone. Too bad the current IMDB rating is only 5.8, because that belies the worth of its art. I love being taken inside of the mind of any writer whose work has withstood the test of time. But this particular journey is so unique, so exquisitely painful, so well-crafted, and so hauntingly portrayed, that I know I'll be thinking about Mary Flannery O'Connor's life's work for months to come. I haven't read much of O'Connor's works, but what I have read really made me sit up, take notice and think. Now I must read everything she wrote, including her journals. Kudos to the writer, cast, and crew. This film is a dark gem.

I came to this movie via a New Yorker article about the discovery of paintings by Flannery O'Connor. I had read a number of her short stories as a teen--which is many, many years ago--and hadn't even realized a film had recently been released.

Given the criticisms in the article by folks who were very familiar with O'Connor's work and even with her family, I was anticipating some horrendous Hollywood distortion. Instead, I was beautifully surprised, if I may use such an adjective, at the imaginative approach to the author's life and work, blending loose fact with her hard-hitting, often sardonic short stories.

The opening sequence was the only disappointment for me, an overly long and gimmicky start.

Bravo to writers Shelby Gaines and Ethan Hawke. Brava to Maya Hawke and Laura Linney. Wonderful work.

I am at a loss for the bad reviews for this movie or those who think this film is "slow". This is one of the best films I have seen in the last 5 years, and it is about time. I thought the concept of telling her stories in her head with her as the main character was very effective. I forgot how horribly funny the story of Hulga was. She is both critic and humorist. Her stories form pictures in the head of the reader which is illustrated beautifully in this film. I will watch it again in a few weeks; I am sure there are things that I missed.

The acting was superb. The writing captivated me. It is well worth a watch.

I was unfamiliar with Flannery O'Connor, an American novelist and short story writer, before watching this film which is not surprising considering I'm not a reader of novels. I am a fan of biopics, however, so I decided to give it a watch. First off, hat's off to Maya Hawke for her stunning portrayal of not only O'Connor but a handful of other characters that appeared in brief, captivating scenes that O'Connor was dreaming up during the events of the film, an inventive choice by Maya's father, Ethan Hawke, who directed it. All in all, I very much enjoyed Wildcat and learning about the life and struggles of this iconic American writer.