TIFF 2023: Wildcat Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Wildcat sees Ethan Hawke direct his daughter Maya in a film that he also co-wrote. An unusual dynamic for sure, it is certainly not an issue when it comes to this film. A biopic of famed writer Flannery O’Connor (Maya Hawke), this contemplative coming-of-age story works in how it depicts her struggle to understand herself and the world around her through the lens of her connection to her faith, but where it struggles is its unorthodox presentation. While the pieces are there, the lack of connective tissue lessens their impact though that being said, it’s always up to interpretation. Being told from multiple perspectives representing the worlds of her short stories that come to life over the course of the film through her imagination, they start to bleed into one another to the point that the story becomes hard to follow and at that point, it doesn’t matter. Using elements from O’Connor’s real life and her experiences, the story offered an insight into her craft as her stories were how she understood herself and the world around her. However, on top of being hard to follow, jumping in and out of the real and fictional only hurts the film’s overall momentum. 

Trying to tell O’Connor’s story, a burgeoning, principled young writer who wasn’t like everyone else nor wanted to be (despite the fact that conforming would have made her much more successful), and using her short stories to illustrate the larger impact on her life doesn’t quite work as well as the film surely intended, making the final product feel a bit convoluted at times. Nothing is given much time to breathe therefore it fails to paint a full picture. Uncompromising in her work ethic and beliefs, O’Connor remained unabashedly herself all the way until the end, she sought to tell her truth through her writing. Whether or not it was popular at the time or whether or not it made others uncomfortable, she stuck to her guns and the film pretty much followed that ideology for better or worse. Perhaps not the most well-rounded portrait of O’Connor’s life, where it succeeds, however convoluted it may be, is its insight in her creative process.

Ultimately, the best part of Wildcat is Maya Hawke’s performance as O’Connor. She absolutely loses herself into the character and commands the screen, bringing a compelling understated energy to her and a misunderstood wit. Meanwhile, she faced the added challenge of playing roles in each of O’Connor’s imagined short stories. Playing each of these roles a little different, they also carried an essence of O’Connor herself. Linney, as O’Connor’s mother Regina, followed suit in playing a prominent role in the short stories, as that relationship played a vital role in her life.

In the end, Wildcat is an unconventional biopic whose execution will leave audiences divided but the true standout is Maya Hawke’s layered performance.

*still courtesy of TIFF*

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.