Mudbound | Film review - An epic period film with contemporary resonance

(Image credit: Steve Dietl)

In the Mississippi Delta of the 1940s, two families - one white, one black - sweat, scratch and scrabble to make a living from the rain-sodden, mud-encrusted land.

The fates of the white landowning McAllans and black sharecropping Jacksons are inextricably intertwined, but the vicious racism of the Jim Crow South is never far from the surface and tensions violently erupt after a covert friendship develops between returning war veterans Jamie McAllan (Garrett Hedlund) and Ronsel Jackson (Jason Mitchell).

Skilfully adapted from Hillary Jordan’s 2008 debut novel, director Dee Rees’ epic film Mudbound boasts sweeping cinematography and a superb ensemble cast, with Carey Mulligan and Mary J Blige (stripped of pop-star glamour) anchoring the drama as the careworn matriarchs of the respective clans. A period drama with searing relevance to today’s America.

Certificate 15. Runtime 135 mins. Director Dee Rees

Mudbound is on release on Netflix and in Curzon Cinemas from Friday 17 November.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xucHiOAa8Rs

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A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.