Day 49 - Mudbound


Day 49              Mudbound [2017]
                          
Screenplay                    Dee Rees & Virgil Williams
Based on                       ‘Mudbound’ by Hilary Jordan
Director                         Dee Rees
Cinematography             Rachel Morrison
Music                             Tamar-kali
Leads                             Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Mary J. Blige, Rob Morgan, Jonathan Banks, Garrett Hedlund
Production                      Elevated Films, Joule Films

IMDb                                 7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes                96%

More of what the Academy Awards needs. I’m sorry that I keep mentioning them, but they have spurred on my watching of a run of Oscar-nominated films. I wanted to see what all the fuss is about and Mudbound is another deserved nominee. And how refreshing to see the first ever woman nominated in the cinematography category. Although I must admit I wasn’t blown away by the shots, a lot of them told a story without any dialogue, we learnt about the tireless fear that ‘black folk’ had in those times, just from one shot of Hap’s face. The film is about a white couple Laura and Henry McAllan (Mulligan and Clarke) who move onto a farm in rural Mississippi with their kids, and their racist Papi. They are aided by a black family, Hap and Florence Jackson (Morgan and Blige) who work the land for them. Two young men return from World War II to their families. Henry’s brother Jamie, a handsome alcohol (Hedlund) and Ronsel Jackson, the Jackson’s strong-minded son. The film shows the Southern black experience of those times in gritty detail. It shows how Ronsel, a brave war veteran, is reduced to a man having to use the back door in the local store, by the men of the Jim Crow South. It’s a distressing ending, but suitably as this film covers a distressing subject. I’d go into it more but it’s Friday night, I’m drunk, and no-one reads this drivel anyway. Watch the film. You’ll just have to trust me I guess.

Acting                           3.5 / 4
Writing                             3 / 4
Cinematography               3 / 4
Music                               3 / 4

HWF rating                 3 / 4