← Back to results
Mudbound
2017 135 min United States of America R 16+
★8.0
Drama
Director: Dee Rees
🎭 Based on
«Mudbound»
byHillary Jordan
Trailers
Description
In the post–World War II South, two families are pitted against a barbaric social hierarchy and an unrelenting landscape as they simultaneously fight the battle at home and the battle abroad.
Budget:
$10M
Starring
Jason Mitchell
Actor
Carey Mulligan
Actor
Jason Clarke
Actor
Awards
Academy Awards 2018
— Best Adapted Screenplay
Academy Awards 2018
— Best Supporting Actress
Academy Awards 2018
— Best Cinematography
Screen Actors Guild Awards 2018
— Best Supporting Actress
Academy Awards 2018
— Best Original Song
Golden Globe 2018
— Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe 2018
— Best Original Song
Screen Actors Guild Awards 2018
— Best Cast Ensemble
Key opinion
Mudbound is a meticulously crafted historical drama that effectively captures the raw, stifling atmosphere of life in the post-WWII Mississippi Delta. While critics praise its strong ensemble cast and thematic ambition, audiences and reviewers remain divided over its deliberate pacing and reliance on literary devices like voice-over narration.
| Acting | The ensemble cast delivers nuanced performances, with specific acclaim for Jonathan Banks' portrayal of the cruel patriarch and Mary J. Blige's grounded role as Florence. | |
| Adaptation | The film successfully translates its literary source material into a stark, realistic psychological study that avoids over-sentimentalizing the brutal history of racial prejudice. | |
| Screenplay | The heavy reliance on voice-over monologues and a fragmented, novelistic structure creates a polarizing viewing experience, with some finding it immersive and others finding it distancing or repetitive. | |
| Pacing | The film's slow-burn, deliberate tempo is appreciated by those seeking a meditative character study, but is viewed by others as an exhausting or poorly paced narrative that lacks sufficient forward momentum. | |
| Cinematography | Technical choices such as shaky-cam and unconventional focus are criticized by some as detracting from the realism, while others appreciate the gritty, earth-bound visual aesthetic. | |
| Ending | The shift toward a more heavy-handed and surreal tone in the final act disrupts the grounded realism established in the preceding parts of the film. |