King of the Hill (1993 film)
King of the Hill (1993 film)
King of the Hill is a 1993 American coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Steven Soderbergh. Adapted from A. E. Hotchner's Depression-era memoir, the film follows a young boy navigating life alone in a hotel after his mother is hospitalized and his father is oftentimes absent. It stars Jesse Bradford as Aaron, alongside Jeroen Krabbé and Lisa Eichhorn as his parents. The cast also includes Spalding Gray, Adrien Brody, Karen Allen, and Lauryn Hill in supporting roles.
King of the Hill (1993 film)
The film received universal critical acclaim for its storytelling and rich character development. It marked the second time Soderbergh directed from his own screenplay, following his 1989 Academy Award–nominated film Sex, Lies, and Videotape. King of the Hill was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and was named one of the top ten films of 1993 by Time) and Entertainment Weekly. In 2024, British GQ ranked it as the best film of Soderbergh's career. It was released on Blu-ray by The Criterion Collection.
Plot
Based on the Depression-era bildungsroman memoir of writer A. E. Hotchner, the film follows the story of a boy struggling to survive on his own in a hotel in St. Louis after his mother enters a sanatorium with tuberculosis and his younger brother is sent to live with an uncle. His father, a German immigrant and traveling salesman) working for the Hamilton Watch Company, is off on long trips from which the boy cannot be certain he will return.
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