Title: Wildcat
MPA Rating: Not Rated
Director: Ethan Hawke
Starring: Maya Hawke, Laura Linney, Rafael Casal
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins

What It Is: Flannery O’Connor (Hawke) is a young writer struggling to finish her first novel, let alone secure its publication. During a visit to her mother, she falls ill due to a flare-up of what we now know was lupus, the disease that would eventually take her from the world. But could it also be what allowed her to write the Southern Gothic style she would become synonymous with? We get a glimpse of the life she led and who she was outside of her writing while also gaining insights into her psyche through her work.

What We Think: This is a jumbled, discombobulated mess. Maya’s dad, Ethan Hawke, is behind the camera, and while I’m sure he’s learned from some great filmmakers, he didn’t learn the right stuff. The pacing is glacial, and the cuts to her short stories limp along, disrupting the narrative rather than adding to it. I’m a huge fan of the elder Hawke—love the guy—but the best thing he’s ever directed is probably still the video for Lisa Loeb’s “Stay (I Missed You).”

Maya, for her part, is REALLY invested in this. She’s giving it her all, but sadly, it isn’t quite enough to hold my attention, and I don’t think it’ll work for many others either.

Our Grade: C-, It is visually and structurally ambitious, I’ll give that to Ethan Hawke. The part I don’t like is that, sadly, he’s swinging and missing. This grade reflects that. I won’t fail a guy for making bold strokes, and I think giving anything less than a passing grade would be disingenuous. The gorgeous cinematography and a hell of a performance from his daughter Maya certainly raise the stock of this one.