Avoiding The Cutes

TITLE: KING OF THE HILL

WRITER AND DIRECTOR: STEVEN SODERBERGH

THE BOTTOM LINE: A strong-minded look at a hard-luck life, reserved and truthful in the telling.

We encounter Aaron Kurlander (Jesse Bradford), 12, reading a paper to his school class in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1933. It's a very persuasive fantasy in which he imagines Charles Lindbergh calling him for advice on what food to take on his transatlantic solo flight. The boy suggests that cheese sandwiches are always good.

In that sequence Steven Soderbergh, working territory far removed from his sex, lies, and videotape, efficiently reveals the sweet blend of...

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