Ivanhoe is my home town and I grew up in that farm house. Fun fact: I hunt out the bedroom window and I killed my first deer out of it. I will always live in Ivanhoe and still do a hog killing every year. It is awesome that people have filmed a movie in Ivanhoe. My papa currently owns the land that the farmhouse is on because it has been passed down through the generations. Ivanhoe is mostly family and my Uncle owns Ivanhoe Blueberries. In the woods in the back of the field my papa has a lot of junk trucks and a saw mill. I still plant corn and beans in the field and I had to remove my chair from the bedroom before they could film.

E.F. Bloodworth, a country singer now in his old age, wants to go to the place where he was born and which he left hoping for a fame that obviously never came. In fact, the old man is coming home to die, but what he finds as he gets there is nothing but hatred from the family he left behind. Only his grandchild Fleming appears he is the only one welcoming his return.E.F. had three sons, Warren, Boyd, who is Fleming's father, and Brady, the only one that stayed to work the place and his mother Julia. Fleming is an ambitious young man who knows he must leave the rural area where the land is located if he is to make something out of himself. Encouraged by a local teacher, he secretly years to break out of the environment.Warren, a man that loves his women and booze, introduces his nephew to the pleasures of the flesh. One day Warren takes Fleming to a house where a prostitute Louise Halfacre lives with her daughter, the beautiful Raven. It is clear Fleming sees in the girl a kindred soul. She in turn, introduces the young man in the pleasures of sex, but little does he suspect she has been quite busy with the uncle."Bloodworth" based on a novel by William Gay, which we have not read, kept reminding us of a much better film, "Winter's Bone" in which a much backward family is at its center. Not being able to compare the narrative with the written text, one can see how W. Earl Brown's attraction in adapting it to the cinema. As directed by Shane Dax Taylor, the movie is worth a view by serious viewers. The first half of the film is excellent, making us want it to have kept the good intentions of Mr. Brown until the end.Kris Kristofferson is a busy actor who makes justice of his character. E.F. is not seen much in the film, but in his scenes, the actor makes us understand why he has been so good in his career in front of the camera. A surprising performance by Reece Thompson as Fleming, shows an interesting new face in the movies. We were quite surprised by Hillary Duff's Raven. This actress has wasted too much of her career playing light characters and she clearly made an impression in a more dramatic role. Val Kilmer does not have much to do, and neither does Dwight YoaKam for that matter. The adapter W. Earl Brown has some good moments in the film. Frances Conroy is seen as the mother.

E.F. Bloodworth (Kristofferson) comes back to his old home in Tennessee after 40-years on the road. He left to pursue a musical career and virtually abandoned his young family. All are up in arms about his return. This is misleading because you think the story is all about E.F. Well, it's not. It's really about his nephew Fleming (Thompson) who wants to leave the homestead too, but is trying to do it the right way, and not the way E.F. did, but to be fair, Fleming is not that conscious about it all. He just wants to do the right thing. He just wants out from a very dysfunctional family who stayed. E.F. is the background, Fleming is the real story and his story should have been developed more. Wasted in here is Val Kilmer. Kilmer needs to find a vehicle to shine once more, but he seems content with small roles that go nowhere. Hillary Duff is a breath of fresh air, but it is Brady (Brown) who ignites (sorry for the pun, which you will understand if you see this movie) the story. His character's delivery is different, unique and solid. To be honest we don't really get to know any of the characters. We get bits and pieces and we are left to read into things. And, because of that, we don't really care one way or the other what happens to any of them, including Fleming. We don't feel anyone's pain. And, being honest again, the story should not have shown E.F. as coming back. Just saying he came back would have been good enough as the family and others bad mouthed him anyway. We would have gotten the point. Why do I say that? Because we expected more from the Kristofferson (E.F.) character and didn't get it. Like I said, this was misleading. Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes.

Wow, this movie is so good. Wonderful characters, wonderful storyline, wonderful songs and music, beautiful countryside. Weird but also very normal people down in the South. There are very nice and kind people, but also got lot of mean people, white trash. The guy who left the family 40 years ago, now wanted to come back to his old home again to die. There are so many deep nostalgic emotions, melancholic memories, hard and hurt feelings floating around in this bitter sweet movie. The struggling, lonely, frustrate growing pain of that wonderful innocent young man, that girl he fell in love with, "I got a gal, sweet as she can be, Raven is her name..." , a short but sweet song. Everybody in this movie performed so well and so natural. Just wish more people could enjoy this movie.