Lin Lutton

I chose to watch "Hillbilly Elegy" with my husband, because I love actresses Close and Adams, and Ron Howard's directing...and cause we have seen everything else on Netflix after 8 months of lock down. We were RIVETED! My husband didn't fall asleep once, or take even 1 pause/break!! This is high praise indeed folks! Best movie we have seen in YEARS!!! Stellar acting (Close and Adams outdid themselves; Owen Asztalos as young JD was outstanding!), superb directing by Howard, amazing script and story...I could go on and on. These are the Hollywood standards I thought were a thing of the past! Like many who have commented here, it was a reminder of an ugly, horrible childhood filled with violence, poverty, brutality, unacceptance by peers, drug addiction, molestation (this one isn't in the movie), etc endured and overcome. With the sheer inner strength, determination, and goodness, in my case, of my mother and grandparents, I survived my childhood and like JD, I graduated college and completed a career. Nothing was EVER given to us by the government. My mother was left a widow with 3 kids under the age of 5-no money, a high school education-no "white priviledge" here....whatever THAT is! Just hard work, determination, and love for her family like the Mammaw in this movie. See this film. No, it doesn't tell it all, but it's one heck of a start!!