#698: SODERBERGH, Steven: King Of The Hill (1993)

SODERBERGH, Steven (United States)

King Of The Hill [1993]

Spine #698
Blu-ray

For his first Hollywood studio production, Steven Soderbergh (whose independent debut, sex, lies and videotape, had won the Palme d'Or at Cannes a few years earlier) crafted this small jewel of a growing-up story. Set in St. Louis during the Great Depression, King of the Hill follows the daily struggles of a resourceful and imaginative adolescent who, after his younger brother is sent to live with a relative and his tubercular mother to a sanitarium, must survive on his own in a run-down hotel during his salesman father's long business trips. This evocative period piece, faithfully adapted from the A. E. Hotchner memoir, is among the versatile Soderbergh's most touching and surprising films.

103 minutes
Color

5.1 Surround

2:35:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2014

Director/Writers

Based on the memoir lby A.E. Hotchner.

Steven Soderbergh was 30 when he wrote and directed King of the Hill.

Other Soderbergh films in the Collection:

#938: Sex, Lies, And Videotape (1989)
#199: Schizopolis (1996)
#618: Gray's Anatomy (1997)
#151: Traffic (2000)

#496: Che (2008)
#617: And Everything Is Going To Be Fine (2010)

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Forty-four page booklet featuring an essay by critic Peter Tonguette, a 1993 interview with Soderbergh and an excerpt from Hotchner’s 1972 memoir.

Commentary

None.

Interviews

With Soderbergh and source memoir author Hotchner.

Against Tyranny

A visual essay by filmmaker :: kogonada exploring Soderbergh’s unique approach to narrative.

The Underneath (1995)

Soderbergh’s follow-up feature to King of the Hill with an interview with the director.

Trailers

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

99

By Director
By Spine #