Despite all the angst they’ve given traditional studios in the past decade, Netflix has thus far been unable to make any inroads on Hollywood’s biggest night, The Academy Awards (other than documentary categories). Netflix swung big at this year’s Cannes, but the fickle French and the Almodovar-led jury either didn’t care enough for “Okja” and “The Meyerowitz Stories” or were dissuaded by pro-theater sentiment (probably both). But Netflix isn’t going away, and they’ve wisely pinned their Oscar hopes on the Sundance hit “Mudbound,” directed by Dee Rees (“Pariah). Here’s the synopsis:
Laura McAllan is trying to raise her children on her husband’s Mississippi Delta farm, a place she finds foreign and frightening. In the midst of the family’s struggles, two young men return from the war to work the land. Jamie McAllan, Laura’s brother-in-law, is everything her husband is not – charming and handsome, but he is haunted by his memories of combat. Ronsel Jackson, eldest son of the black sharecroppers who live on the McAllan farm, now battles the prejudice in the Jim Crow South.
The cast includes Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, and Mary J. Blige. “Mudbound” received an exceedingly positive response at Sundance, with reviewers praising the performances, the period authenticity, and the nuanced portrayal of the struggle for racial equality. The film is adapted from a novel by Hillary Jordan and is said to uphold both much of the novel’s original language and a narrative complexity more common to fiction than film, most importantly including narration from six different characters, allowing those on the margins to speak in their own words.
“Mudbound” premieres on Netflix on November 17, 2017.
.){kind=link}