Slog through this mud only if you have to

Rating: 5/10 (26 November 2017)

I can best describe this Netflix film as highly uneven and frustrating to watch. Know this, you will feel the running time here because the film often loses its narrative grip and takes a while to get going again. Although handsomely shot, well-acted and possessing a powerful story at its core, this work nevertheless is too bloated and at times too aimless to leave a lasting impression. I've already forgotten the several stretches here in which seemingly nothing happened.
A melodrama about a white family and a black family on a Mississippi farm before, during and after the Second World War is a well-intended premise, but this film definitely could have used more editing. The characters are introduced quite well and there are some genuinely well-executed scenes, especially the heart-wrenching climax. But getting there takes so long and during these intervals I was wondering what the whole point of it was. Another sign that the story was not told very well: I actually forgot that the farm was struggling until one of the characters mentioned it. An important plot thread like that wound up feeling more like a footnote.
Some of the performances, although high quality, are wasted. Carey Mulligan is the best example of this. She starts out as a relatively central protagonist before fading into the background. In the end, she's an ill-defined character. Jason Clarke starts out strong, but he's also something of an afterthought by the end. On the plus side, Garrett Hedlund and Jason Mitchell play well off each other as two war veterans who come to grips with the institutional racism of 1940s Mississippi and who both realize that life was, in some ways, better in the military. Jonathan Banks gives a committed performance as the aging grandfather who deplores any indication of social change.
But despite the strong performances, this is a film I would only remember as one that took long to get through. To put it bluntly, I was snookered by the reviews. They praised this film as brilliant and I bought it, hook, line and sinker. Regrettably, I cannot recommend this film because then I would be joining them in that lie.