hillbilly elegy – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

HILLBILLY ELEGY – Review by Martha K Baker

November 23, 2020December 3, 2020 Martha K. Baker 0 Comments amy adams, glenn close, hillbilly elegy, j.d.vance, netflix, ron howard

“Poverty porn” suffuses Hillbilly Elegy as does self-aggrandizement (see the cards and rotogravure with the credits). Hillbilly Elegy skims the surface of the book to focus on family more than politics, resulting in a tolerable film. Thankfully, it’s not Hee-Haw, but it’s not Barbara Kopple’s iconic documentary, Harlan County, U.S.A. either.

Reviews

HILLBILLY ELEGY – Review by Susan Granger

November 16, 2020November 16, 2020 Susan Granger 0 Comments amy adams, glenn close, hillbilly elegy, j.d.vance, ron howard

J.D. Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis is about his chaotic childhood. It’s been termed “poverty porn,” detailing his mother’s chronic drug addiction, pivoting from personal “down home” recollections to inevitable culture clashes. In the film adaptation, it comes across as a family drama, a resonant slice of rural Americana.

Reviews

HILLBILLY ELEGY – Review by Susan Wloszczyna

November 10, 2020November 10, 2020 Susan Wloszczyna 0 Comments amy adams, glenn close, hillbilly elegy, j.d.vance, netflix, ron howard

When J.D. Vance’s 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, landed on best-seller lists just months before Donald J. Trump would become our 45th president, it was treated like portal into the mind set of those in the disenfranchised white underclass who supported him.