Wildcat (2023) review

Attempted "biopic" of introverted Southern author Flannery O'Connor (Maya Hawke) shows her struggling to complete what would be her first novel (Wise Blood) while living at home with her mother Regina (Laura Linney) and suffering from lupus - the movie also "uses" material from her short stories to try to highlight her vivid imagination.  I've complained before about movies trying to capture the Internal Mechanics of a Writer - Maya lurches over her typewriter, attempting to come up with the next sentence - and, like them, this fails in that department ... plus the attempt to "broaden" its approach by chucking in adaptations of its subject's smaller pieces (including "Parker's Back," "The Life You Save May Be Your Own" and "Everything That Rises Must Converge") only scrambles things up further.  Maya's proficient as the lead - it's quite unlike anything she's played previously - although it's a peculiar project for her father to direct since he's either a non-believer or apathetic regarding the spiritual world and his subject was a true believer in every sense.  Read the books instead: they're considerably more rewarding.