Films about life as such without any plot load occupy a special place in cinema. Sometimes they touch on important topics concerning any person, which we used to ignore, but which sometimes have a huge impact on our lives. So, one of the problems of society is the ability to remain human, regardless of circumstances. Unfortunately, people for unknown reasons do not know how to remain adequate and show basic decency in relation to others. Actually, this topic concerns the creators of the psychological drama “Mudbound Farm”.
Henry McAllan has long dreamed of his home and his land and soon makes his dream come true, moving with his wife Laura and elderly father to an abandoned farm in Mississippi. Here they will have to overcome numerous problems, including crop failure, racism and simply the dirt and anguish of the rural way of life. Soon everything changes when Henry's younger brother Jamie returns from the war, whose appearance provokes scandals not only within the family, but also in the district.
The film, above all, has a strong cast. One of the main roles was played by British Cary Mulligan, who played the role of Laura, who at the beginning of the film appears in the image of an innocent 30-year-old virgin, dreaming of romance and selfless love, and eventually transformed into a cold-blooded landowner, accustomed to not living, but surviving. I really liked Mary J. Blige as Florence, a black neighbor of the McAllan family, who gained respect not only for her knowledge in the household, but also for her ability to show humanity and kindness, despite the cruelty of the surrounding world. Finally, it is impossible not to mention Jonathan Banks as Pappie, the father of Henry and Jamie, an extremely cruel and devoid of any compassion man who eventually paid for his immoral view of life.
Director Di Rees shot a very deep psychological drama, which touched on a variety of topics, but managed to present from the perspective of realism, without going into excessive inclusivity and political context. By and large, the director focuses on the relationship of the characters, in a limited world where there is only dirt, dilapidated houses and complete disrespect for human life, regardless of whether you are white or black. The heroes are just trying to get along with each other. Someone manages this easily, and someone is so absorbed in hatred that brings the situation to an almost tragic end. The only significant drawback of the film is its slow and slightly dreary narrative. There was not enough fire, some liveliness that would bring at least a little color to the already gray atmosphere.
The action of the plot covers the period from the late 1930s to the late 1940s. In the center of the plot are two families – the MacAllan family and the Jackson family. Henry McAllan's eldest son is to marry the sweet tidy Laura. His younger brother Jamie volunteered for the front line, where he served as an Air Force pilot. Meanwhile, Henry moves with Laura and his always grumpy father to a remote farm in Mississippi, where he hopes to build his own farm. For Laura, this move is especially difficult, since as a city resident she is not used to the dreary and monotonous rural life.
To cope with the household, Henry hires Hal Jackson, the head of a black family living near the Macallans. Although Mississippi is considered one of the most racist states, families manage not only to find a common language, but even to make friends. So, the best friends become recently returned from the war Jamie and Ronsel, who left the ocean a young German, in which there was very in love. Despite the seeming mutual understanding, the tension still heats up and leads to irreparable tragic consequences that will forever destroy the former world of both families.
The result of “Mudbound Farm” is a very specific, but quite tolerable film. The most valuable thing about it is that, despite the themes of racism and chauvinism, the film lacks any political overtones. Dee Rees speaks exclusively in human cinematic language, presenting material from a human perspective. So without further ado, I would recommend the film to watch.
It’s a pretty good film that tells the story of racial discrimination in the United States from a seemingly unexpected angle, to me anyway. The plot touches on this problem in the years immediately after World War II. After the war (in which black and old Americans fought shoulder to shoulder against a common enemy and became brothers in arms), the former soldiers returned home to the same old society from which they were sent to the front - a society where Martin Luther King and other fighters against the infringement of the civil rights of black people had not yet manifested themselves and where segregation was still the norm. This meeting of the old society and, in fact, new people burned by the war, logically, was supposed to lead to some social changes in the issue of racial discrimination (well, a white brother in arms can not without indignation look at how a citizen humiliates his black brother, who there, at the front, risking himself, saved him from death?!! and black veterans themselves after participating in the war, probably have a different than before, self-consciousness). However, we know from history that further events in the United States did not develop quite according to a forceful scenario, the movement for the rights of blacks was inspired largely by the religious principles of nonviolent resistance, and nevertheless we can assume that this moment (former front-line soldiers) contributed to the soil of the subsequent struggle for equality in the country. This film is not about solving the race issue, but about people’s experiences.
The film is close to the man, he has a female character. It’s so... feminine down to earth, as if internal, it’s about feelings and emotions, the importance in it is, I would say, not so much the racial problem itself, but the inner world of the actors against the background of this problem. After this picture is asked as a continuation or addition to the full understanding of the entire American history male film 'Mississippi on fire' in which the soft and closed emotionality of this film comes more active and expansive, there is a sparkling tension and active struggle with unfair orders.
Unexpectedly for me, as if the home side offered this film to me its theme, it showed as if not the official history known from popular books, films, etc., but the history of everyday life of that time, which in my case filled a certain gap in the worldview, added a few additional touches to it. For that, I put the film above average.
Honestly, I expected to see a kind of classic family saga, in which everything is fascinating and the acting and directorial work and cameramanship and so much exciting solemnity and epicity and so many fascinating frames that can imprint on you and even stay with you, perhaps for a long time ... Yes, apparently, I wanted a lot from the film ...
The acting did not impress me, except that Jamie is not bad, but nothing more.
Director’s work – I did not like how the film was made, that is, it was shot as “just a film”, and not as a masterpiece, which, he claims, because the topics stated in the film should be shot either stunningly or in no way.
The plot ... it could have come out of such a classic film, which I wrote about above, but for this to work on it and work. The film (not counting the first frames) begins as a slurred love story, smoothly passes to the post-war psychological soldier's trauma with racism somewhere in the background and ... here from around the corner pops Kuklusklan.
Attempts to make a serious impressive classic film, of course, there were such classic attempts: voice-over dialogue, the eternal complex themes of war and racism, the sunset sky.
But the film is not remembered, the footage is not imprinted in memory, somehow everything is slurred, not strong, do not empathize with the characters, oddly enough, although I am one of those who can cry in the final.
I’ll bet 7 because it’s not a “bad movie” and just not a masterpiece.
7 out of 10
The only drawback is the initial scene, which turned out to be blurred and even unnecessary, confusing. If the chronology went straight, the drama would become even more emotional.
Since childhood, I was drawn to see the classical, in my understanding, American society of the 40-50s. Manicured gardens, cotton and wheat fields, cute private houses and the life of the Ku Klux Klan. All this is more than shown at the Madbound Farm.
I was curious to see the changes that the war brought to the situation of black people. The example of two soldiers who returned home but did not find a home. The example of two old men clinging to slave-holding remnants on both sides. Especially shook the denouement of the film with the activities of white hoods. This is not something you can find in every movie.
Separately, I want to note the castes of actors that were selected immaculately. It's like they're from that time. I didn't think Jonathan Banks could handle that kind of heat. Nicely surprised.
"Mudbound Farm" is a story about the events taking place on a small farm in the vicinity of Memphis during the Second World War, based on the novel by Hillary Jordan "Mudbound". The plot is based on the lives of two families - McAllan and representatives of the colored Jackson population. The first moves to a farm in Mississippi as a result of the decision of the head of the family, the second – has lived there for a long time. Although slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865, the country still remains a relic of the past, when racism was quite common in society. Therefore, there are strange, ambiguous relationships between families.
The structure of the film is an interesting solution. Beginning with the formation of the McAllan family, the authors further divide the film into three branches: the life of the Jackson family, the life of the McAllan and the events at the front. All three branches intersect each other, but still have their own independent lines. Towards the end, the creators reunite these branches, and as a result, we have one storyline composed of three.
Relationships between families are uncertain. On the one hand, the Jacksons, renting land from the Macallans, have their own crops, work for themselves, and generally seem to be independent of anyone. But at the same time, in view of the still hovering prejudices against blacks in society and the survival of slavery, they seem to be shy and somewhat afraid of the Macallans. The same, in turn, almost in full force from the first days of acquaintance show their friendliness and lack of aggression towards colored residents. In addition to the father of the head of the family, an old grumpy grandfather, who immediately makes it clear that he does not take black people for people.
Racism is the maximum of hatred with the minimum of causes. - Joshua Hechel
The main problem covered by the Mudbound Farm, as has already become clear, is racism. The film explores the subject from three different angles: whites who have no pretensions for blacks, racists, people whose prejudices carry a tail from the 19th century, and people of color. We are shown how some characters’ opinions about people of a different race change, because they see how they can not only be useful in society, but also have the same problems, desires and feelings.
My home is my fortress
Second, but not least, is the topic of family. It includes the love of the mother, the relationship between family members, and the eternal theme of fathers and children. The main background of the film - relatives and friends - the most important thing that a person has. In general, here again we come across the magic number 3 (3 vectors of plot development, 3 sides of coverage of racism and many other things hidden from the naked eye). The film shows 3 types of family: ideal (in the understanding of the authors), where the family acts as one whole, practically do not argue and stand for each other with a wall, prosperous, but with its internal problems and flaws and, finally, dysfunctional. Why the latter type leads to tragedy is shown by a specific example.
Remain human in any situation
Another idea of the film is about humanity. And it manifests itself not only in a tolerant attitude towards the black population: the film shows many moments of kindness to the people around you, whether it is your close relatives, friends-collaborators or ordinary passers-by from the street.
“Mudbound Farm” is a really good sodium, consisting of stories of different people with different views on life, but united by one place, which is their home. The plot is not so twisted, but the stories are presented with interest, and largely thanks to dialogue - here they are executed at the highest level. The film makes you think about many things, both domestic and global. Here you and postwar syndrome, and racial discrimination, and family relations, friendship, love. Everyone will find something special in this film.
Stories of racial conflict are always among the most disgusting and unpleasant. To judge a man for the color of his skin, to kill for it, to hate for it. It is difficult to imagine such horrors, but it is possible. These are the pages of the history of our humanity. Too disgusting pages. When people didn’t want to know we were all the same. We are all equally friends, we fight, we eat, we drink and we love. There is no difference and there should be no difference.
And in this difficult time, when these racial differences remained at the forefront of everything, the viewer returns in the film "Mudbound Farm." Dee Riis tells the story of two families living on the same farm. Some are colored, where the mother lives by caring for the children, and the father dreams of his own land. The second is white, where it is almost the same with the only difference that the character of Clark owns this land, and his father is the most ardent racist. And every family has its own mood: if the first and reigns love and understanding, blossoming with hope for the best in the soul, their neighbors have nothing like this: the wife is unhappy, and the husband thinks only of himself. But one thing they have in common is that they're all waiting for their people from the war. Hap and Florence have a sergeant on the tank, Ronzel's son, and the brother of the hero Clark is a pilot. And they are all worried about their loved ones, but returning them home will change the course of life of the entire farm.
"Mudbound" is very similar to a play or a theatrical performance. You can see that there is much left of the adapted source, and the scenes that lead to nothing, but look out of the original story, look somehow inappropriate and only stretch the sluggish current picture. At the beginning, Di Riis looks very slow, but gradually you get into this narrative when the action finally begins to focus on two war heroes. Up to this point, Riis tries to touch each of the characters, where we hear even their thoughts, but this only leads to confusion and confusion, which helps to understand. From a slow farm we are quickly transferred to war, then back to the thoughts of the heroes. And this disparity is a big barrier to the drama that's unfolding on this farm. The recent “Fences” from Washington, D.C., was also a cinematic play, where all the chamber action in the backyard rested primarily on three characters and their performers. There were no distractions, which allowed you to feel them as best as possible. Here in the first hours of this does not work, the pace jumps, and to follow one thought of each hero does not look very important, and just can not penetrate. But then the action stops at two characters, and from there, delving into the atmosphere of a dirty farm somewhere on the outskirts of America becomes much easier, and the drama and conflict become much more catchy.
And the drama here is enough. Riis does not play falsely or pathetically on the topic of racial hatred, no, she has it here as a given, from which you can not escape and which will touch you anyway, if suddenly you want to go out through the front entrance. First of all, for the director, the main thing is to show people close in spirit, people who are real and understanding. They are both soldiers, soldiers who are lost in ordinary life because of the horrors that are on their heels. And they both have something behind them, both dreaming of something other than just a farm. And that understanding, that friendship is the most important thing. A friendship that doesn’t care about any false differences. A friendship that shouldn't be anything out of the ordinary. The friendship of two people that is so necessary for each of them. In war, no matter what color you are, everyone is equal. You also fight, your comrades die, and you also suffer after everything. Dee Riis emphasizes the post-war syndrome much more than the racial conflict that always goes around. And this neighborhood of two troubles does not wish anyone.
“Mudbound” is both a story about haunting fears and losses, and a painful family drama, and a tragedy about the then divided skin world, full of inequality, cruelty and anger. Yes, she concentrates less on the drama of the family, which somewhere promises to be, but all presented is enough to feel the heaviness on the soul of the characters. Thanks to the excellent Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hadlund and Jason Mitchell every detail of the inner pain of the characters is felt very real and strong. This is the right movie through which the viewer can look at the unhappy America, which, like the Mudbound Farm, is dirty and unpleasant, where people who do not understand and do not try to understand each other are forced to coexist. But even amidst this dust and devastation, one can see humanity and true human values: love, friendship, family. And they are all the same, even if many for some reason do not understand it.
I watched Madbuand Farm, which this year has 4 Oscar nominations, one of them for best adapted screenplay. If you do not take into account the hackneyed context and the ridiculous ending, then in principle not bad.
A girl named Di Riis, the director of the film, draws parallels between the lives of two families well, but does not divide the location between them by social status - those who pay money and those who receive them exist in the same conditions of huge fields, creaky wooden doors and slime under their feet. Of course, they are satisfied with different, but the general knowledge of the characters of the word “labor” helps to more specifically see the characters and understand the story.
Cast, led by Gareth Hedlund, and the fierce Rob Morgan, who appeared in any Netflix series, skillfully plays with the context, but does not press on the patient. Yes, the theme that if you're "colored," you won't leave the store through the front door is present, but no one is parasitic on it. Yes, the final 30 minutes are outweighed by all articles, and the film slides into surrealism, albeit with a historical background. And the emphasis on the military past of the local African-American is too obvious, and presses where it is not necessary, but it is worth admitting that before that the film is fine with both the narrative and the presentation. No one seeks to impose an opinion, and pursues a good cinematic idea - to tell.
Plus, there's a wonderful Cary Mulligan. Graceful even in a puddle of shit and with a dirty back, shy, often experiencing awkward feelings because of the place she lives in and because of the thoughts that are constantly in her head. She slouches, and speaks skillfully with a "rustic" accent, even when dressed in an expensive evening dress, and holds a glass of champagne in her hands.
The only thing I didn’t understand was the camera nomination for Rachel Morrison (who, by the way, was the first woman to fall into this category), and the nominations for Mary J. Blige. The first has a good job and the second has less screen time than Mahershal Ali in Moonlight. But who would understand these academics?
In general, if at least half of the overseas agitators will be similar to this, skepticism to the local party will decrease.
"Mudbound Farm" begins with a scene where two brothers dig a grave in the pouring rain in Mississippi, later it becomes clear that this episode is the epilogue of the story, and now it remains to understand why they are digging a hole and what happened before. To this answer, director Di Riis allocates two hours of screen time, the viewer receives the answer, but another question arises already unanswered - for what four Oscar nominations?
The topic of racial segregation has already been passed as soon as possible in recent years, and some, like "12 years of slavery" did it outrageously and successfully, also from year to year there were other projects like "Moonlight", which were given regalia only for shouting and protesting years earlier. "Mudbound Farm" the film is quite sane, but again - is it so good that it highlights the topic in another way?
No, it’s not just about racial prejudice, it’s about the post-war syndrome and the hardships of farming, but Di Riis’s directing isn’t perfect enough to be admired. The voiceover of many of the characters allegedly promises to place their fates under some kind of morality, but unfortunately, the morality of the film’s story is fixed only on the theme of “white retribution” and also on some moments of marital fidelity.
In general, the film looks normal, despite the fact that the theme of “black and white” already seems to want to exploit every second studio, but the meaning of this tape does not lie in that accessible place for the viewer who could analyze the story in a more unambiguous verdict.
5 out of 10
Netflix is becoming more and more entrenched in filmmaking every year. Now the nomination for the statuette of the golden man has reached. On the one hand, it's just wonderful, the boundaries have widened, the competition for quality films has increased. But the question is, why this painting? The matter is in the quality or raised topics, since now neither the applicant is a representative of the discriminatory class.
How to determine whether the film is suitable for Oscar or not? Let's break down all the items submitted for the award.
Best Song: Mary J Blige – Mighty River The composition is sensual. Maybe she really deserves to be in the race, but to be honest, I didn’t even notice her watching. Maybe it was background, although usually put those on which was the accent in the blue.
Operating work: This is where I totally disagree! Working with light is terrible, the camera is always shaking, constant fixation on the wrong objects. For me, this aspect has become one of the disadvantages of the work.
Screenplay: You know what the most lazy technique in conveying a plan to the viewer is a voiceover. The creators cannot visually show the feelings of the characters and they need to say almost every thought. How many people do you think use unspoken monologues? Six! Almost all the characters tell us what is what, instead of us understanding the essence. Although the plot is very entertaining, the story makes several interesting turns, and the characters are written noblely. However, the implementation of some scenarios is quite controversial.
Female supporting role: Mary Blige again. She certainly played well, but Mulligan was better, she has more heartfelt and emotional scenes. Then why is that? Because Blige is black? I don’t know what the Academy’s criteria are for selecting nominees. If you wanted to increase the number of black applicants, you could replace Plummer with Morgan or Mitchell, a decent castling.
Verdict: "Farm" is a good, conscientious movie. But the fact that it was exhibited at the ceremony, even in such categories, makes one doubt that they are not silenced by “racial problems”, and in the end it can become anti-advertising as with “Moonlight” (at least in the CIS).
7 out of 10
"Mudbound" (Dee Rees) is a movie that is no longer made. Epic, drowning in the mud of a seedy farm in Mississippi, strikingly skillfully woven spectacle, masterfully transporting the viewer from one human tragedy to another. This is a novel that is read aloud - and it comes to life, and the characters begin to speak for themselves, creating an atmosphere intimate in their anxiety, emotional and not spoiled by excessive sentimentality.
The film tells the story of two families in the 40s of the last century: one comes to live on a farm in conditions not quite suitable for them, the second helps them with the housework. There is an insurmountable distance between them due to racial prejudice, but this distance they will not try to pass. It is enough for them to play by the rules of time, but this game is meaningless and cruel and nobody has ever won in it.
"Mudbound" is an important timely movie. Mary J. Blige in this film is brilliant and it is not at all clear how she does it so easily. Dee Rees is a director - you need to remember that name.
You have to watch. It's one of the best movies of the year. You don’t have to wait for it in the movies, since it was released directly through Netflix, which means that it will not be difficult to find it online.
Here, from the first minutes, without any peeking into the profile, it is clear that the movie was extracted from a large book telling about the time and people whose lives and fates intersected on Mudbound Farm, where, led by insidious intent, men and women come together and reject each other, burning with love or burning with hatred among unfriendly dirty fields.
The racial antagonism that has long tormented America and now keeps it restless, forcing it to look back again, recalling the nightmarish injustice and unextinguished inequality, which is why the director painstakingly academically expounds the contents of the prose tome by Hillary Jordan, chewing its text like a hard breadcrumb for the toothless to swallow.
White and black people, white and black families, black and white families and black and white relationships – everything will be told in detail, everyone will be exactly presented, everyone gets their characteristic, as if you read an illustrated novel in which the drawings are more interesting than a boring text – so well the actors fit into the difficult fate of the inhabitants of a seedy farm, leaving the reality of the unenviable past, which remains a dark spot in the historical memory of the black population of the States, not yet got rid of it to the end.
The verbose cinema seems to reflect the director’s need to speak out, demanding patience from the viewer to listen to the monologues of the actors of this old-fashioned play, adhering to the strict canons of cinematic classics, as well as the literary spring feeding the picture, counting on the perseverance of fiction lovers, ready for a long observation of the obvious, showing sensitivity in contemplating human adversity and family troubles, generalizing personal tragedy and social inequality, as is known, disfiguring the external and internal world.
You'll never get used to it. You're not going to get used to it.
Mud. There's so little nice about that word. Few people have the desire to dig in the dirt, knead it and generally have anything to do with the repulsive mass. The mud is in perfect contrast to the majestic views of the sky. While clouds and clouds draw unimaginable pictures from above, people on the ground trample in endless mud, resisting inner demons, arranging skirmishes with each other and creating lawlessness with injustice. Gradually you realize that in fact the most nasty dirt is in the human being. Even a handsome young man cleaned to shine can be stained from head to toe inside his soul.
Against the background of superheroics, fiction, action films, thrillers and comedies, the creation of Di Riis looks like a true alien movie. Although the action of the film covers the 30s and 40s, in their plot there are practically no so-called spectacular moments with masterful sound mixing or gunshots. The Great Depression and the Second World War are colossos somewhere far away. Mudbound just isn't up to them. The head of a man is filled with thoughts about how to cultivate the land, dot the crop and feed the family. The case is very complicated and requires patience. But where there, when there are practically no residents around, and there are no constant interlocutors here.
Honestly, the first hour of the film is measured, without tearing and painfully calm. Many may begin an unequal struggle with Morpheus to, mate, forget about the movie and forget in a dream. After an hour, however, an important turn happens when white and colored begin their bromance. Both soldiers, both lost their comrades in battle and felt like strangers at home. From this moment, the plot, like a river, takes a new course, which will lead to irreparable consequences. In those moments, you begin to realize that the creation of Di Riis could not have been shot otherwise. It requires a long introduction, a smooth flow of time and a deficit of emotions with a touch of great anguish.
You can compare, guys, with how tasty and appetizing dish is prepared not at once, which must go through many stages of preparation. But the one who ordered the meal cannot understand, because he does not see the process. My uncle mistakenly thinks that everything can be done quickly. So with the movie "Mudbound", which does not give anything at once. There are no main characters, because there is someone to speak on their behalf. There are no good and bad here, instead of them there are villains and victims. Here the feelings are muffled for the time being. The paradox here is that in war you can be someone, and in peacetime you can be nothing. At the end there will be an explosion, and you see Netflix is back on top.