What I Watched -- Mudbound

Mudbound is dark in two ways.  There is very little about it that is uplifting, so if you are in the mood for a real downer, it's your movie.  It's title fits the whole tenor of the film, because as I watched it, I felt like I was stuck in mud the whole time, unable to move or stop the coming events.  Clever, eh?

But the images are also dark.  There were a lot of times that I found myself squinting at the screen, trying to see what was happening because there was no or so little light in the image that I couldn't tell who was who or what was happening.

Carey Mulligan, whom I love (only in part because she is from London), does a wonderful job adding depth to a role with minimal personality.  Garrett Hedlund, whom I recognize but I can't figure out why, is the emotional center of the film.  He plays the brother of Carey Mulligan's character's husband, and is the one with whom the viewer can identify.  He's tough to understand sometimes, but he's the one to sympathize with.

There is not a lot of plot to report.  The film starts with the death of an old farmer, being buried by his two sons.  Then we backtrack to the start of the relationship between one of the sons and his wife, follow the other brother through the war, and meet the African-American tenant farmers who live and work the land.  We move forward from there, progressing towards the funeral that started the film.

Bottom line: dark (literally) and depressing, but a good way to pass time on a flight.