Hillbilly Elegy is a memoir about escaping poverty, but the movie is about pervasive drug addiction. Why? When it was announced that Netflix would be buying the rights to Hillbilly Elegy with Ron Howard directing, I was actually really excited. While I didn't politically align with most of the summations in the memoir, I thought Ron Howard had an even hand and that the story would also be challenging and unique. This is not an article about the problematic ideas or historical inaccuracies within the story, nor is it a "hot take" on who should write or direct what. It's just a look into the structure of the film and how I think major changes in the editing or outline phase could have bolstered the movie's goal. This is me playing Monday morning quarterback. In watching the film, I found the most interesting choices not to be what happens in the movie, but how it was structured. Read More...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Tuesday, 8 December, 2020