The Elegy of the Countryman has not yet been released on Netflix, and the Internet is full of bad reviews from various film critics. As a ten-year fan of Amy Adams, I watched this movie for the first time. Stripped of American politics, if you just appreciate the narrative of the movie and the acting skills of the actors, The Elegy of the Countryman is still a movie worth recommending.
The story mainly has two time and story lines. The first one is about JD, who is graduating from Yale Law School, and various discomforts in integrating into the elite circle. In the middle, it happens that his mother (Amy Adams ) overdose on drugs, and his sister called Help, JD needs to drive home to deal with his mother. The other is that the juvenile JD experienced various psychological traumas (parents divorced, bullied by peers, mother remarried many times, alcoholism, verbal and physical violence, the most serious one was that the mother lost control of her emotions and drove at high speed and threatened to die with JD) . Thanks to the kindness of grandma Mamaw (Glen Cross), JD was able to stay away from the negative circle of friends and be included in a regular study. When JD felt helpless and confused by her mother's crazy practices, her sister told JD that her mother was also a victim of domestic violence. When she was very young, her mother witnessed her grandmother set her drunken grandfather on fire and left a shadow. The narrative of the film does not focus too much on political criticism, but simply tells the social reality at the bottom of the United States: the prevalence of domestic violence, the heavy use of alcohol and drugs due to the economic downturn, the defects of the medical system, the family trauma that persists from generation to generation, and the contingency of changing socioeconomic classes.
Besides the acting skills of the actors, Amy Adams will never let you down, the role of mother makes people angry and pitiful, the scene of grabbing the needle from JD is impressive, the mother is unreasonable and ashamed in front of her son , on the one hand needs his son's help but refuses violently. If the film can get better support from film critics, Amy Adams may be able to hit the statue again next year. Amy Adams is so good with this unfortunate character, it kind of reminds me of her role as the hero's girlfriend in The Fighter. As for Glenn Cross, the role is a perfect fit for her, and her performance captures the essence of the Mamaw prototype photo in the end credits. The most impressive is the performance of the young JD (Owen Asztalos), which vividly expresses a teenager's rebelliousness, doubts, fears, self-abandonment but self-affirmation.
Redneck's Elegy is based on JD Vance's novel of the same name. The novel was published in 2016 and topped the New York Times bestseller list. At the time, many people used the book as the basis for their analysis of Trump's victory. 2020 is another election year, but perhaps the film just flat-out told a story about an underclass of America without talking more about politics, disappointing critics. If you don't care about American politics and just simply enjoy the movie, The Elegy of the Countryman is still worth watching!
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