Just saw Mudbound directed by Dee Rees. Missed it during its limited theatrical run and since it was simultaneously released on Netflix I figured I'd catch it eventually... just didn't expect to see it in the next year. Well, I really shouldn't have waited this long as it's one of the year's best, and while I'm still ambivalent about more and more movies premiering on streaming services (the term "film" will have lost all significance once it's no longer shot on actual film and screened on the big screen) perhaps the least I could do is to stop thinking of them as a sort of cinematic love children.
Back to Mudbound, FYI based on Hillary Jordan's novel of the same name. While I've never lived in the South I was still somewhat bemused at first by the movie's diction which shows not only the white McAllan family but also the black Jacksons using a minimum of Southern dialect and hardly any drawl. But then I saw
Rees has already addressed this slanted POV: "Although it’s set in the post-WWII South, I really approached this as a pioneer story and staged the narrative visually, in many ways, like a Western." So she was not going for authenticity, and though I'm still not convinced that such details hardly matter for any movie set in the Jim Crow South the pieces do start to fall together once you realize this is a "Western" mired in a brutal racial and patriarchal hierarchy.
What I liked most about Mudbound is its refusal to settle for easy condemnation or hip social critique while sparing no righteous judgment or ugly history (its lynching scene is harrowing as they come). In fact it derives its biggest strength from the camaraderie between Jamie and Ronsel that develops into a genuine friendship at first based on their shared WWII experiences and then their confinement in a social order which clearly has no use for them except as tools of industry, even though they're presumably the story's supporting characters. No hint of cynicism or defeatism here, and it even ends on a hopeful note, though I do wish the climatic developments were a tad less predictable (which may be less Rees' doing than Jordan's).
And the cast is just about flawless. If you already subscribe to Netflix make sure to check it out.
You can't get more "miserable" and nihilistic than King Lear and yet millions of experts and laypeople alike still see/read/listen to it every year. Unless you're suggesting we should also reject arguably the greatest work by the greatest creative genius in the history of human civilization maybe you should rethink your stance.
I might have underestimated the pressure that the #MeToo movement will be exerting on the voters, but I don't think Robbie is as long a shot as you think. Plus she was/is better than Ronan (I doubt the latter would be as successful playing such a maniacal motormouth). As for the others I wouldn't object if McDormand won. Think Hawkins was even better in Maudie, though I hope to see her more often in more "traditional" roles as she's simply too good to be pigeonholed. I'm guessing you already know what I think of Streep.
Didn't mind this year's GG ceremony, but then I don't mind activism/virtue signaling/fill-in-the-blank at awards ceremonies. Portman's quip was indeed somewhat disrespectful but that's precisely why it worked. I've read that the male nominees looked uncomfortable but I don't recall that. Also I think it was directed less at the five men per se but at the HFPA.
As you might have suspected I don't think Gerwig is up there yet. She's got the potential, but for pure direction Scott was better (the guy had to reshoot the whole scenes with Kevin Spacey just a month before the scheduled release for gawd's sake, though he couldn't ask for a better replacement than Plummer). But then I don't think Scott deserves the nom, either. I'd need more time to cut 'em down to only five, but my shortlist for now would look like this (again no language/nationality requirements, and alphabetical order only):
Dominique Abel and Fiona Gordon - Lost in Paris
Sean Baker - The Florida Project
Robin Campillo - BPM (Beats per Minute)
Michaël Dudok De Wit - The Red Turtle
Bill Morrison - Dawson City: Frozen Time
Valerie Müller and Angelin Preljocaj - Polina
Johnny O'Reilly - Moscow Never Sleeps
William Oldroyd - Lady Macbeth
Jordan Peele - Get Out
Joachim Trier - Thelma
Agnès Varda and JR - Faces Places
Denis Villeneuve - Blade Runner 2049
I'm finding this a lot tougher than the
Best Actress list I put together earlier. And of course I still have a few more titles to get caught up on for 2017. Check back in a month or two.
5 might have been better than 4 but frankly the whole Pirates series lost steam after 2. I'll probably keep watching it because I had such a good time with 1 and 2. Hopefully the return of Will and Elizabeth will give 6 a much-needed jolt.
