WILDCAT -- Ethan and Maya Hawke Team Up for a Confusing, Unique Telling of Flannery O’Connor’s Life

Review by Cole Groth

Ethan Hawke’s directorial efforts haven’t landed him much attention so far. Although his latest production, Wildcat, won’t change this, something is interesting about how daring he is as a director. His fourth narrative feature tells the story of Flannery O’Connor (Maya Hawke), the short-lived American novelist who held a lifelong struggle with illness. Instead of taking the typical biopic route, this film tells us her life story through a series of disjointed vignettes from her short stories. It’s an ambitious effort but one that’s ultimately a bit too confusing to reach the public eye — much like O’Connor herself.

Wildcat takes place in 1950, when 24-year-old O’Connor visits her racist mother, Regina (Laura Linney). On her visit, she copes with her growing struggle with Lupus and her battle with publishing her first novel. To escape the oppressive world around her, she frequently takes us into her mind through some of her 31 published short stories. Each vignette brings together a variety of styles and tones, bringing us through on her adventure towards publishing as she pitches her novel around.

One of the clear things about this project is that, without Ethan Hawke behind it, this wouldn’t exist. The large cast of actors like Linney, Steve Zahn, Cooper Hoffman, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Liam Neeson makes it clear that a few favors were called in. As far as the acting goes, this is an enjoyable time. Hawke allows all of the actors to embrace a variety of heartfelt, funny, or intense scenes. Each of the vignettes, while tonally confusing, is a pretty good showcase for the large cast.

There’s a scene about thirty minutes in which O’Connor’s mom complains about race relations and how slavery was actually a decent thing. At that moment, Jesus walks through the doors of the hospital they’re in and proclaims to her that there are just two spots left to get into heaven, and the only way she could get in is if she became a Black woman or as a white trash woman instead. She pleads with him to stay as herself, a respectable aristocratic white woman. Sounds a little insane, right? That’s about what you can expect from this biopic. It’s plenty of fun and tells an exciting story of her life, but for those familiar with the author or looking for a standard drama, this won’t be the film for you.

The core problem here is that Hawke looks at everything through the silly lens of a modern Hollywood guy. Racism is bad, of course, and he wants us to know that, if he were alive in the ‘60s, he would be the guy telling people that calling Black people inferior wasn’t very nice! It’s the type of screenwriting coming from a guy who doesn’t seem to know much about the past or is desperate to stay in touch with the youth. He almost loses O’Connor in the mix of things by throwing in strange political views that aren’t progressive enough to be daring but also too weak to feel realistic.

There’s plenty of cool production and fun directorial style to find in Ethan Hawke’s latest feature, and while Maya Hawke is incredible as O’Connor, it’s clear that her dad has some ways to go before making a film ready for the mainstream. This is simply not a comprehensible enough movie at this stage. It’s weird and daring but also too rough around the edges. Perhaps that’s part of the character, but the viewing experience is ultimately much tougher because of it, and for someone unfamiliar with O’Connor already, I feel like I know her even less after Wildcat.

Wildcat releases in theaters starting May 3.

Rating: 2.5/5