HILLBILLY ELEGY 15

Ron Howard’s classily produced yet unremarkable drama is based on J.D. Vance’s bestselling memoir, which explored the ethnography of Rust Belt America. Here, the screenplay by Vanessa Taylor (The Shape Of Water) re-frames Vance’s text as a treatise on the ultimate American Dream – to make cash and contacts, work a trajectory from humble beginnings and succeed where previous generations have floundered.

Played as a child by Owen Asztalos and as an adult by Gabriel Basso, J.D. narrates his own tale, introducing us to his family holidaying in the Appalachians in 1997, then skipping forward to 2011, when he’s a Yale law student on the brink of a new life as a summer associate. Called by his sister Lindsay (Haley Bennett) to return home and care for his addict mother Bev (Amy Adams), who has nearly overdosed, J.D. relives painful memories of his upbringing. Will the centrifugal force of his mother’s screw-ups derail his escape from his past?

A handsome film in Howard’s (perhaps too) safe hands, Hillbilly Elegy explores similar ground to the superior Winter’s Bone. There are also parallels with Sharp Objects, where Adams’ essayed a more acute take on Southern discomfort. What’s more, J.D.’s push/ pull between his family/future doesn’t feel particularly urgent. The real draw, then, is Glenn Close as J.D.’s chainsmoking, plain-talking grandmother. Delivering a performance as gloriously out-sized as her tees, Close steals every scene with fearsome matriarchal power and tough love. A home-video end-title sequence shows just how much she nailed it… awards beckon.