Hampered by a low budget that can’t quite do justice to O’Conner’s imagination and supporting actors that can’t match the tone, but otherwise an excellent film. Maya Hawke gives a world-class performance as Flannery O’Conner. I recommend it.

This biographical film captures the journey of a Southern writer as she struggles to publish her literary works. Despite her struggles, the main character lacks likability, possibly due to her embodiment of certain Southern traits that she occasionally expresses ambivalence about. The film fails to be a great movie. It appears incomplete and unfinished- possibly mirroring the protagonist’s incomplete life

My rating may be a little inflated (some performances don't quite work) but I just so admire the effort here. O'Connor shouldn't get a conventional biopic.

The acting by Maya Hawke is more than worthy of an award. I appreciated how well she played so many roles but her depiction of Mary Flannery was better than I expected it could ever be. Well done! The story writing was also excellent, leaving me eager for more at the conclusion. Yet, ironically, that's precisely how I believe this movie should have been made. All of us who adore her writing yearn for more from her. For most, well after the fact, she remains an enigma, and perhaps this is why her writing is so highly studied and admired.  I am glad they didn't make it more or less. More would have made me question the truthfulness of story. Any less would have not been truthful enough.

I’m trying very hard to not let the experience of seeing Ethan, Maya, and Laura in person at TIFF at this screening bias my score (!!!!!!). This was a super character driven film that stripped away a lot of ancillary elements to keep us squarely focused on the strong performances, and I loved the seamless blending of reality and fiction to tell the stories in a creative way. You could tell the actors themselves had a lot of fun making this and getting to “play pretend”. I can’t yet put my finger on what specifically was missing, but overall it left me wanting a little more. Also, the q&a portion on the importance of humans in storytelling was particularly impactful in light of the strike. “I’m not interested in tidying up reality” (or something like that - I didn’t write it down during the film so cinephiles pls don’t crucify me)

Flannery O'Connor was an enigma, and this film is appropriately enigmatic. It's an exploration of the inner conflict between her devout Catholicism and her written work, which was often shockingly sordid and cynical, yet darkly humorous. She was a profound influence on later southern writers, including Barry Hannah, Harry Crews, and Larry Brown. Uninitiated viewers are likely to hate this film, or at least be baffled by it. It flips dreamlike between scenes in her life and passages from her stories. The characters in her life also appear as characters in the story passages. The film is directed by Ethan Hawke, and his daughter Maya is stunning as the complex and perplexing O'Connor. Laura Linney is perfect as O'Connor's mother, as well as several characters in the story excerpts. This has to be the best work of her career. Liam Neeson is in one scene as a priest sitting by O'Connor's bedside as her body is being ravaged by lupus. It's an amazingly powerful moment. Devotees of O'Connor will be greatly rewarded by this movie. I would urge those unfamiliar with her to read her stories, as well as her novel Wise Blood, before watching it. Otherwise, you just won't get it.

I lasted most of the movie because there were periods of interest and strong acting. But finally threw in the towel during Flannery's too-long and uninteresting dalliance with a door-to-door salesman. Overall, not a compelling picture.

Amazing acting, and an intriguing portrait of Flannery O'Connor. The film is slow, punctuated by bouts of violent drama (flashes of her short stories)-- more of a meditation than a plot-driven story. Inspired me to buy the Complete Stories as I have not read much from her.

I thought this movie was good -- I was a little worried about the "dramatizations" but Ethan pulled it off, making the biopic richer by weaving reality and fiction into several dark strands. However, in my ever humble opinion, he didn't know how to cut it. How much better this film would have been if, instead of that lame 14 years card straight out of the silents, there had a reprise of the "hand of god" murder scene, making us realize that at some point death was was a blessing for Flannery. Anyway, Maya was very good, and Cooper Hoffman and other people's children too. Great to see Robert Lowell portrayed as well -- now there's a another Maestro movie for you Coop. But, in closing, I also always love seeing the divine Willa Fitzgerald, of 온라인카지노추천 Scream and Megan Abbott's Dare Me, especially as the also divine Miss Hardwick.

Writing is a creative process-the movie builds an arc by going back and forth from Flannery O'Connors real life to the stories she writes. We see her determination, fierce authenticity and bravery through her mother's parenting, a love interest, the prejudices, difficulties and limited knowledge of the times and O'Connor's efforts to both get published and stay true to her own voice, pushing the medium of writing itself. The issue (for my friend too) was not being able to catch all the sentences-sometimes the intimate voices got lost in mumbling, and I believe every word is important here. Still got a lot even though I thought captions would have allowed the words and literary aspects to shine even more. It has a fantastic ending as well, bringing many things home. I like movies that give me a lot to ponder and talk about, so I'm really glad I saw this.

I give this a 5 with the qualifier that I am a Flannery Fan Boy. I have taken a week to travel to her Georgia sites, been to the churches she haunted in NYC, not been to Iowa yet. So, I loved it and I think the Hawke family did a great service to the Flannery world. If you are not a Flannery fan you may be very much lost. But I hope the movie will have you reading. Amendment: I wrote the above review immediately after watching the movie in an attempt to boast the movie's numbers, ever so slightly. I now want to add, one might just enjoy the movie without Flannery knowledge and I think you can watch the movie and not be lost - maybe. But, being a Flannery Fan it was a delight. I really liked the small playing out of the short stories as Flannery is creating them. All the actors were great. Laura Linney was excellent.

Incredible writing and acting in this little niche film. Loved it!

Really excellent, this movie is something special.

Fascinating depiction of an artist's mind and how they experience the world and their own art. Great performances by both Maya Hawke and Laura Linney. Beautifully photographed.

Right from the beginning I knew this was going to be a different kind of movie. It was one of the better movies I have seen in recent memory. Mia Hawke showed how versatile she can be in the many roles in this film. I enjoyed the realistic sets that did a great job taking the viewer back to mid 20th century. Well done.

Wonderful performance by Maya Hawke! I really thought the cinematography was beautiful. I am so pleased that more people will be introduced to the great writer, Flannery O'Connor.

Collections of shorts goes nowhere but I guess thats the point of a collection of shorts. They are all their own unique story. The main story of the author writing the short stories does not add much but acting is good.

Ethan Hawk's film is amazing. Was fortunate to see the Savannah screening. One of the best I have seen in years. He has an understanding of time and place (1950s South) and his subject that too many reviewing this movie don't understand. The South in the 40s, 50s, and 60s is an uncomfortable place to travel back to. Flannery O'Connor's writing was always uncomfortable. Her faith and her war inside herself with that faith was central to who she was. Maya Hawk's portrayal was nuanced, quiet, and thoughtful- so much like the writer herself. Will everyone get it? No. Don't think it was meant for mass consumption (much like the subject's writing).

Really bad. Hawke can’t write or direct. Movie incoherent and soporific. I can’t believe they even try to deconstruct timeline ala CK to make it even more incomprehensible than it alredy is. This may be better for fans of writer who have some ideas what they will be seeing but for total newbies, we were left in the dark.

This was a true gift for fans of Flannery, and one that will help bring her to a wider modern audience. I open up The Habit of Being pretty often, and it always feels like a conversation with the author. This film gave a beautiful and enticing intimate look into Flannerys world. I was able to see this in Lexington KY with Ethan Hawke with my wife, and enjoyed hearing the passion that was brought into the film. While I think that O'Connors worlds are enormous and almost unfilmable or would be hard to market to the public in a way, Hawke found a way. His vision for the story was incredible, and somehow exceeded my best expectations. Mayas performance was amazing. This was a beautiful film, and surprisingly hilarious at times. The only complaint is that the film couldn't keep going, and the conversation about it had to end. Thank You Ethan and Maya!