King of the Hill (Steven Soderbergh, 1993)

With: Jesse Bradford, Jeroen Krabbe, Lisa Eichorn, Karen Allen, Spalding Grey

Plot: Through a series of unfortunate contrivances, a young boy (Bradford) must fend for himself while growing up in the American Midwest during the 1930s Depression.

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Another one of those slice-of-life films, definitely Soderbergh's most conventional early film, and it manages to be a surprisingly relaxing watch considering the near poverty and adult-dodging that the boy's life consists of. It's a wise move to make even the big dramas feel low key (achieved by the character's slightly implausible stoicism and resoursefulness), because you don't realise your sympathies for him have been slowly piling up until the end. The final indignant reaction to his father's good news is a quietly touching scene, a real coming of age moment in a film that easily could have been overstuffed with them but manages to resist. The period detail is likeable and perhaps slightly cartoony, but not ladelled on too thick.

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