Hillbilly

R

2018

1h 25m

Documentary

List

90%

10 Reviews

Tomatometer

55%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

Two filmmakers visit rural Kentucky to unpack the stereotypical imagery of the hillbilly.

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Audience Member

Loved that this movie addressed the issues it did. It is not ok to diminish our culture and who we are and depicting us as ignorant in all media across the board because of where we are from and the fact that we may speak with an accent that's not what you think it should. I'm proud to be a southern girl from the beautiful hills of West Virginia…. Grand daughter, daughter, and sister of coal miners, and a preachers we are daughter as well 😉. All cultures contribute to who we are as a country. We matter

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

greg r

You will notice that the audience score is downright lousy. You can guess this is because people were offended. A review is not about whether or not you took offense because maybe you thought this movie was about you. The documentary is thorough and accurate. It is clearly not presented in an offensive manner. I'm sorry you feel calling you out for supporting a mega rich New Yorker for President to be offensive, while people in your part of the country are needy for such basic things. It is what it is. Perhaps you might watch this documentary again. And, maybe even a third time.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

It is at times saddening how people destroy ther life making terrible decisions, but it is uplifting when somebody breaks that malicious circle.

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/26/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Just terrible. I was hoping for a more balanced view of the issue. Watch “Stars In The Sky: A Hunting Story” done by Steven Rinella if you want to make an “us vs them” documentary. He had an anti-hunting vegan, Robert Jones, who has a PhD in philosophy from Stanford University, and is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at California State University, Dominguez Hills in the documentary to give the counterpoint. This doc has a bunch of educated, articulate, individuals to speak to one side of the argument and then Ashley York’s family to argue the other side. Not a fair fight in my opinion.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

05/02/21

Full Review

Audience Member

This documentary has a tough, yet humanizing story to tell, through a perspective that is rare and fresh. The film has discipline in its scope and presentation, and finally provides a voice to a region that is so often spoken of, rarely to. While the history and media portrayals they present may be at times uncomfortable, it serves as a reminder of the lives that have been adversely affected by said history and media. The film makers are careful to be compassionate and well rooted in their conversations with the various people interviewed.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/02/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The film maker pretends to use an inside profile and intimate knowledge of our "hillbilly" culture to push her admitted progressive and liberal perspective influenced by liberal college professors and living in the cultural egotistical environment of LA. She does not represent my family of 6 generations from Eastern Kentucky and feels like a fraud and affront to my cultural home.

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

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Sally Rubin

Director

Ashley York

Director

Michael Apted

Actor

Ronny Cox

Actor

Billy Redden

Actor

Sam Gleaves

Actor

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Matt Zoller Seitz

RogerEbert.com

This is an ambitious and enlightening documentary, filled with wisdom and asking great questions, some of which may never have a satisfying answer.

Rated: 3.5/4

Nov 26, 2018

Full Review

John DeFore

Hollywood Reporter

Uses politics as a launchpad but is really motivated by much deeper stuff.

Nov 23, 2018

Full Review

Kevin Crust

Los Angeles Times

An effective rebuttal to media stereotyping, especially in its own portrayals of people of color and the LGBTQ community...

Sep 27, 2018

Full Review

Cory Woodroof

615 Film

It's an instructive view, and one that might make you feel a bit uncomfortable in your seat for the times you've played into the ugly renderings of the people in the mountains.

Feb 11, 2022

Full Review

Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Film Festival Today

Hillbilly offers a wide array of subjects, all unique, revealing the fallacy behind any attempt to define anyone, anywhere, with just one word.

Rated: 3.5/4

Aug 14, 2019

Full Review

Nathanael Hood

Unseen Films

Rubin's need to interrogate her cultural guilt scuttles a desperately needed exposé of the last socially acceptable form of prejudice in America.

Rated: 5/10

Dec 27, 2018

Full Review

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Synopsis

Two filmmakers visit rural Kentucky to unpack the stereotypical imagery of the hillbilly.

Director: Sally Rubin, Ashley York
Producer: Douglas Blush, Silas House
Screenwriter: Silas House, Sally Rubin, Ashley York
Production Co: The Orchard, Holler Home Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 9, 2019
Runtime: 1h 25m

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