Vivid, slow but absorbing, with a dramatic final half hour

Rating: 7/10 (24 January 2018)

Mudbound (2017)
A striking, smart, beautiful movie, a straight up drama directed from the increasingly appreciated African-American director, Dee Rees
The main feeling of the movie is careful realism, for sure. It starts in 1939 and the Depression is ending, and then two main characters go to war and their experiences figure in on the overall behavior. Set in rural, isolated Mississippi, the hard times and earthy philosophy of ordinary folk give it all a beautiful, slow feeling.
Yes, it's slow, though you might easily get absorbed in the recreation of the times and the life of those times. It's never actually boring. And it's as vivid as you'd ever expect. Until the last third of the movie there lacks a narrative thrust, so you are meant to just sink into the world created and get to know the characters. It's not quite enough, by itself, partly because some of the acting is very good without rising above into memorable. But I appreciated the serious, deeply felt intentions.
In a sense, this had the makings of being a great movie. With better writing-not the dialog, which works, but the plot itself-it might have taken on real stature. For that potential, I recommend giving it a go. I also think the filming-the look and feel of the movie, including the photography and also the editing-is first rate.
One point has to be made: there are some moments and one particular scene that are really difficult to watch. The vivid, unsparing recreation of hatred and violence, of racial hatred and physical mutilation in particular, is not my idea of an inspired content for a movie. It's powerful, it's disturbing, it's terrible to watch and consider. Lay over some gospel blues singing, film it with oscar-nominated intimacy, and you, too, are victim. I don't need to relive a movie version of some of the horrors of life to understand them.
I say all this first because to some people this graphic realism is exactly what makes a great movie. It is really well done, and the acting, even by the racist white dudes who inflict their violence, is not clichéd. There is nuance and restraint, even. But a heads up on that.
And listen, if you make it to the last third of the film, stick it out. The ending is deeply moving.