User reviews

A good and extremely well acted film. It is really the netflix film that could make the difference in terms of awards recognition. It is not your typical racism film as it tells another side of it. It is about two young men who would never be in any way friends if it wasn't for one thing they have in common. Both are war veterans and return home with a trauma. One is the son of a farm aid, the other is the brother of the owner of the farm. But it is not the only story this ensemble piece tells. The acting is the best reason to see the film. Rob Morgan was the MVP for me. It was a performance that worked way beneath his dialogue. A very deep and moving character and he managed it absolutely realistic. Jason Mitchell was great as well, especially towards the end. He has for sure the battiest role. Garrett Hedlund comes right after with a very controlled and intense turn. He surely is underrated for his acting, I also liked Mary J. Blige who had some great small moments, but after all the buzz I expected something more intense. Much of her performance works through her expressions which were great and real. Carey Mulligan and Jonathan Banks were great as well. Jason Clarke had his moments but was possibly the weakest of the bunch, but that was mostly because of his pale character, The film was extremely well shot, nicely directed and had a great screenplay. At the beginning it dragged a little bit but it is definitely worth to see and the ending is extremely intense, shocking and memorable. And the final scene has to be one of the most beautiful scenes of the year.

Or PTSD as it is also called. Although here you have more of a Welcoming Stress Disorder ... because while in war, the skin color did not matter, back at home (in the US) for some it more than mattered. You may not feel comfortable with what certain people are doing here - but they all have their "reasons" (or at least education and prejudices they grew up with) why ... not that it hurts less what they do.

An interesting look and a friendship build over something horrific two of the characters went through ... and also showing how little certain groups of people had to say. Still to this day in some regions for sure - and why that matters and why it should not be that way anymore. A good drama with a lot of good actors in it. Not an easy watch by any stretch of the imagination though ...

Perspective changes everything. I have seen films like "Mudbound" before, but never THIS exact story. The characters were all flawed, complex, and human. And somehow each person owned this tale. It is not easy to construct a film with 5-10 protagonists that delves into relationship, history, and justice. They managed to do just that. I could quibble about the pacing (slow) or the sub-plots (some felt superfluous), but the movie remains a feat nonetheless.

The most disheartening thing about watching films revolve around slavery during the Civil War is that ultimately racism and discrimination didn't end when that war was over. In fact, they are still very prominent subjects in today's world. Which is why Mudbound works very well as a World War II period piece in the south. The same sort of racism and vastly unfair treatment people of color received back during slavery times happened during the civil rights era and are pretty much happening again now. All within varying degrees of severity, but still very much an issue in the public eye. The point being that Mudbound is a depressingly timeless story about two soldiers (one white, one black) coming home from World War II and not getting the best of welcomes from the townsmen and their opposing families.

Mudbound is one of those films that doesn't necessarily push the boundaries of historical fiction or even films based around inequality. However, it does provide an intriguing story about two people who form an unlikely bond, which is tested when racism floods their world in Mississippi. When the characters are written well, the direction is on point, and the performances are impeccably good, some of the minor issues can be swept under the rug.

Those performances include turns from Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Carey Mulligan, Mary J. Blige, Rob Morgan, and Jonathan Banks. All of which are equally effective. I've always believed the best compliment you can give an actor is that they blend so much into their characters that you think you're watching a documentary where the people don't know they are being filmed. It almost felt like these were particular moments in these families lives and I was just there to witness things unfold. And to that point, I'm sure that a story this dark and this haunting happened, especially when you consider how secluded the families are to the rest of civilization being on a farm. Overall, Mudbound is a gritty, devastating, and most of all important film that is sure to be up for some awards this winter.

8.4/10

This movie does a great job of capturing the difficulties of the post World War II world in America - the struggle to make a living as a farmer and the problems that the deeply embedded racism brought to families, black and white. Set in rural Mississippi, the story follows two families (one white and in ownership of the land) and the other black (and working the land). It shows the intersection and power balance between the families, all leading to tragic circumstances. I thought it was well done and its one of the better "Netflix Originals" that I've seen. Not sure it's worthy of an Oscar nom, but I don't like many Oscar noms anyway, and I liked this one much better than most of the other 2018 nominated films.

Part of what makes this movie special is that it is a moving picture about black history in America. There have been several of them in recent movie Oscar history. But perhaps what makes Mudbound extra unique is that it is a movie made by and with black women. Dee Rees, who both directed and co-wrote the screenplay (with Virgil Williams), is the first black woman to receive an Oscar nomination for Adapted Screenplay. Rachel Morrison is the first woman to be nominated in the Cinematography category and went on after this movie to film Black Panther, which might very well earn her another nomination. And finally, Mary J. Blige, is the first black female American to win nominations in two Oscar categories in the same year. In Mudbound, Blige played the lead black female character and also sang and wrote "Mighty River". She credibly demonstrates both her acting and singing abilities in this movie.

None of these talented women won the Oscar in their respective categories, but, still, Mudbound is an impressive movie and deserves to be seen not just for these skills, but for the acting talents of Carey Mulligan (An Education and Suffragette) and an ample cast of lesser known, but very talented supporting actors. This movie is tightly constructed and doesn't waste the viewers time, but is filled with the raw emotion that derives from difficult struggles born of poverty, race, war, and gender boundaries. The movie shows very clearly how racism blossoms when groups of people are struggling just to make ends meet and, to somehow justify their own net worth, end up denying that of others.

I was especially impressed with the numerous dualities that the movie sets up and then maintains throughout the movie. It seems that everything operates in pairs and the story is one of how each of the pairs solve similar problems in similar, but different ways. There are two families, one black and one white. They both have sons who go to war. (WWII). Both sons come back struggling with different kinds of legacies from their war experience, one with PTSD from the war itself, the other from the misplaced conception he learned of his role in society as a black man. They both attempt to make a living from the muddy land of Mississippi, one as a struggling white farmer, the other as his black sharecropper. They both suffer terrible physical tragedies, one a miscarriage, the other a broken leg.

Both families pay substantially for 'mistakes' that weren't their creation, and neither family emerges unscathed. Life isn't easy, and Mudbound makes sure we understand that. This movie is a raw, emotional experience, but it works very well. I give it 8 stars (out of 10).

This is in no way an easy watch. It's a stark reminder of just how tough life can be. But how tough it must've been for blacks at this time in this part of America is impossible for me to comprehend.

What I can understand is a good film and good acting. This is indeed a very good film about hardship and it's one that is finely acted.

Definitely worth a watch, but the subject matter will leave an imprint on you. Not easy, not pretty, but life isn't always those things either.

8 out of 10 for me

Topical epithets like "African-American", "female", "lesbian" can immediately boost filmmaker Dee Rees as a shoo-in of any awards consideration to validate the industry's all-inclusivity dedication, but when MUDBOUND, her stirring second feature, misses both BEST PICTURE and BEST DIRECTOR nominations in the Oscar race, we can impute it to its bad luck, but never to the movie's artistry, as both Jordan Peele and Greta Gerwig overshadow her with the same politically correct cards (race/gender) in the directorial category, and labelled as a Netflix movie, the film may have reached more audience but is also predisposed to be brushed aside by the old guards among the Academy members on the strength of safeguarding silver-screen's sacrosanct purity, albeit changing of the form is inexorable.

Located in Mississippi during the 1940s, MUDBOUND traces relations between two families, the McAllans, two brothers Henry (Clarke) and Jamie (Hedlund), with Henry's wife Laura (Mulligan), their two young daughters and the brothers' father Pappy (Banks), who own a farm and the Jacksons, headed by Hap (Morgan), their tenant farmer, with wife Florence (J. Blige) and a brood of four. Both Jamie and Ronsel (Mitchell), Jackson's eldest son are recruited in the army to fight Nazis, the former is a bomber pilot and the latter on the ground, commands a tank in the Continent. It is their experiences in the war that brings them closer, after both are lucky enough to return home alive and kicking but find themselves beset by PTSD and wanting an aim in their post-war existence, their camaraderie will be tested in a nefarious lynch mob commotion in the climax, but salvation is well-earned with Dee Rees' conscientious endeavor, not least in her sterling aptitude of honing up an arresting narrative: horror and anguish are produced with frenetic editing in the under-lit condition, but never overstay their welcome, tendresse and pathos are dished out in apposite quotient without ever overstating their connotations.

Told intermittently through 6 main characters' voice-overs, this tack refreshingly fleshes out each player to constitute a fantastic ensemble, every adult in the McAllans, represents one particular mindset towards the entrenched racism, from Pappy's Ku Klux Klan-infused abomination, Banks, who can chill you to the bone with just a glance, is one's worst nightmare in living embodiment, which should be taken as a sincere compliment; to Henry's matter-of-fact treatment and congenital superiority, being considerably less unbearable makes it a more insidious barrier to overtake; then there is Laura's moderate kindness and Jamie's genuine friendship, which regrettably are not out of sheer truism or sense of justice, but on the condition of reciprocation (Florence tends to Laura's daughters when they are sick, and Jamie's life is saved by a black fellow pilot), this faintly retrograde narrow-mindedness has become this reviewer's pet peeve whenever racism is tackled in a fictitious creation.

Among its dramatis personae, R&B diva Mary J. Blige is the sole recipient of an Oscar nomination, her portrayal of Florence is palpably nuanced, composedly resilient and utterly lifelike (her proficiency of dispatching a rooster is very under-praised), not to mention with a puissant theme song MIGHT RIVER to render addition empathy during the closing credits (a double Oscar nominee this year). Carey Mulligan, on the other hand, is unfairly overlooked with her pitch-perfect incarnation of a neglected wife who is mired in a hopeless situation (her husband doesn't even ask her opinion about their life-changing relocation), not just by debasing her appearance, Laura is "mud-bound" in the most literal way (ablutions conduces to her unsatisfied desire and liberation), like many women, she seizes her marriage as an escape of her spinsterhood, and has to live with the consequence to the boiling point, that incestuous impulse, it is not an easily legible role but Mulligan glows with assurance and true grit.

On the masculine front, Jason Mitchell is the unequivocal one who rallies our sympathy and investment, which he runs way with in steadfast strides. Rob Morgan, also rounds out with a memorable impression as the undeterred paterfamilias, sticking to his guns within sagacious boundaries, as for Garrett Hedlund, who is tasked with the most thrilling retaliation in the form of patricide, is much as good as you want him to be, which leaves Jason Clarke takes the short end of the stick with a less showier part.

It will be a great remiss to not mention that DP Rachel Morrison has become the first ever female Oscar nominee in that branch owing to her finesse of designing its period-saturated, umber-hued landscape, and grabbing 4 tickets to the Kodak theater, odds are not exactly favorable to MUDBOUND, but at the very least it competently establishes Dee Rees as an unstoppable force to be reckoned with, and spearheads a belatedly surge of (black) female filmmakers on the horizon.

It was so unfair for those people who gave their lives to fight for their country all over the world in at least three wars to return back home and be treated like enemies by those who were enjoying at the same time the peace and security of being home. So unfair and cowardly. An very good drama depicting the social injustice of that time in the US!!

A simple story of a black family working with a white family that works really works with the great directing of Ress and some some outstanding acting performances.

Very strong story, unfortunately clogged by the way it is narrated. The film sets off hardly, could have easily lose the beginning. The external narrator is a bore. But once the story starts happening, it is real good.

Mudbound is an 90's type of movie. A slow pace, with a good character study, and beautiful shots to complement all this.

It's almost a theater play. We don't move around much. We get to see the barren land with few if any distractions besides church and liquor. The story itself might be done before but I got pulled into the story because of all the great characters and the different storylines going through each other. Everything has its resolve although the ending is a bit quick.

Still a solid movie and I'd definitely recommend it.

Brilliant movie depicting the deep rooted racism in America and the semilaties even after abolishing slavery

A racially tense southern-set period drama, "Mudbound" has a familiar tone and perspective, a vibe reminiscent of a more traditional era of cinematic storytelling. Yet that's not to diminish the work of Dee Rees, whose feature follow-up to 2011's "Pariah" is beautifully shot and firmly grounded in honest reality and modest hope.

Based on a novel by Hillary Jordan, "Mudbound" follows a white family and black family living on a farm on the Mississippi Delta preceding, during and immediately following World War II. The white family, Henry (Jason Clarke) and Laura McAllen (Carey Mulligan) buy the farm to fulfill Henry's dream and inherent tenants in the Jackson family who do much of the labor. Both families have a soldier in the war, the Jacksons' oldest son Ronsel (Jason Mitchell) and Henry's brother Jamie (Garrett Hedlund). When the men come home, preexisting tensions between the families flare up, especially as the two young men become friends despite the racial animosity in the town, especially the attitude of McAllen's grandfather.

Rees and co-writer Virgil Williams give us the McAllens' backstory and some interesting scenes in which they use (perhaps unknowingly) the privilege and upper hand they have in their dealings with the Jacksons, but the return of Ronsel and Jamie herald the coming of the film's most compelling storyline and what ultimately gives the film purpose.

Everything about the film clicks when you see these two men, who are struggling to adapt to life back in America, bond over their traumatic experiences that their families and neighbors cannot understand. Jamie's time as a fighter pilot helped him to see past prejudice, and Ronsel's time on the front lines and being seen as an equal in Europe made him less willing to put up with the same racist divides and provocations in the South. The script's use of narration tethers us to their experiences and makes their companionship meaningful, even as we sense something will surely go wrong.

Other characters get narration voiceovers as well, but even though Laura has a fairly compelling story and Hap (Rob Morgan) and Florence (Mary J. Blige) Jackson earn our sympathies with ease, the film comes alive when it focuses on Jamie and Ronsel. All the effort the script spends to tell the other characters' stories fades into the periphery. After you've seen the film, it feels as though all these subplots were merely distractions. Fortunately, the way those two characters are handled and the way the story smartly wraps itself around them in the second half is enough to carry the film. Undoubtedly, when people think back on this movie in the future, that relationship will be what they recall.

This "Fox and the Hound" type story has some old archetypes engrained in its narrative bones, but Rees approaches it in earnest. Maybe it's just the way she and cinematographer Rachel Morrison capture the dirt and grit of these characters' circumstances. Or it could be the way the script avoids gravitating toward any conventions of good and evil. Yes, some characters are good and some bad, but some are in between - the bystanders who don't want to cause any trouble, the victims who do not stand up for themselves. This spectrum reflects the reality of pre-Civil Rights America and "Mudbound" gets that context right.

Yet even amidst the stark realities, the film shows moments of humanity and kindness and is remarkably hopeful. When we think about the South in the first half the 20th century, we often think about Jim Crow and the systems and attitudes that divided us and oppressed black people. We assume this tension was pervasive and don't give a though to the surely many instances of cooperation, unity and brotherhood. "Mudbound" depicts a confluence of both these forces in a profound way. Much fat could be trimmed off, but the core of it is great filmmaking and storytelling.

~Steven C

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Don't get me wrong - "Mudbound" is a must watch flick, but it's so damned depressing...and embarrassing. Black folks forced to sit in the back of buses, black folks having to exit through the back doors of stores, black folks not permitted to say one bad word to white people, black folks in fear for their lives for - gasp - sitting in front seat of a truck with a white person or, heaven forbid, having a white lover. We all know how ass backwards the American south was, and still is. It makes you ask one question, "When exactly was America great again?" Definitely not during the Jim Crow era, or the slavery era, or even today's BLM era. "Mudbound" rams America's sordid ugly racist dirt in your face over and over, and when you think you've had enough, it rubs salt in those bloody wounds. So, yeah, this was a good film, just very hard to stomach.

While not the first film (or book) to deal with racism in the South, Mudbound does a good job of highlighting how complicated racism can be when the oppressed lives and works with and for the oppressed. The hand that asks for help may be the same hand that holds the switch or noose. People on both sides are complicit, playing a part in a society that is sure of everyone's place and worth. Stepping out of line endangers the individual and the system that flourishes in silence. Great performances and direction. Worth a watch

Mudbound boasts palpable cinematography and authentic performances by a cast filled with talented actors, with Carey Mulligan and Jason Mitchell being the most noteworthy. Dee Rees has shown true bravura behind the camera, as well as on the page, and has masterfully crafted a deliberately paced character drama that keeps the audience spellbound. The characters and their relationships are drawn so richly that you can't help but be drawn into their world. The harmonious music adds to the film's cadence and creates a vivid, conflicted, and tough world that forces the audience to live in it all the way to its perfect ending.

While the concept of racial conflict during one of the roughest times in American history might not be anything new, Mudbound is one of 2017's very best outings. It is hard to put into words just how good it is. If you are tired of the big-budget, hyper-active blockbusters of 2017, this film is the perfect antidote.

It was an interesting movie.

The atmosphere was good, too.

Acting, cinematography, direction, and the dark symbolism wrapped in a friendship and closure that lend the hope of eventual grace. But probably not for another generation.

The story takes place less than 100 years ago in the American South. Segregated, inhumanized ... silenced. The palpable oppression of almost all characters is claustrophobic and disheartening. To imagine this time is a memory for some - a parent or grandparent's story to others, is almost unbelievable - which is exactly why this movie should be seen.

Lest we forget. Not just what these men did for our freedom, but what happened when their 'hero's journey' ended. Coming home only to fight a new battle of prejudice, ignorance, and extreme maliciousness.

The internal, eternal, battle of right and wrong. So yeah. I cried. A lot.

On a visual note, the colours and narrative are heart wrenchingly poetic. The Mississippi landscape is beautiful and surprisingly unforgiving. Visually it's dirty, and brown, juxtaposed against the lush greens and kaleidoscopic skies is a respite for all the heartache - which I think the characters themselves might agree.

They are each simply searching for home, for peace, for humanity. Aren't we all.

This was a powerful film, yes slow-paced at times, but the events in the film are powerful enough to transport you back to a time which was scarily not that long ago. A time of racial hatred, segregation, class disparity and some outright inhumane behaviour. Also a time of war as this movie is set in world war 2 America. This movie is an emotional rollercoaster, from happy to hope to drama to rest to empathy to ANGER and sadness, but fortunately ends with a message of hope again. Yes this world is far from perfect and yes there is still a lot of racism and disparity, but seeing this film reminds me we have still come a LONG LONG WAY!!!!!!