I spoke with Dee Rees about her excellent new film "Mudbound." I was a big fan of her earlier film "Pariah," and, suffice to say, "Mudbound" did not disappoint in the least bit. It unique narrative structure is also something to behold. Rees is one of the few African-American female directors currently working in Hollywood. I can't think of many, that's for sure. Isn't that something to cheer for?
You can read the whole interview HERE.
Here are notes I wrote about the film at Sundance:
"Dee Rees’ “Mudbound” is a complex and invigorating account of post-WWII racial tensions in 1940s Mississippi. The film addresses, with astute sensitivity, the timeless racial struggles still at play in America. Rees, whose “Pariah” remains one of the most underrated films of this decade, tells the story of two soldiers, one white and one black (Garrett Hedlund and Jason Mitchell), returning home to rural Mississippi, having seen the horrors of war and struggling to deal with racial injustices they must confront. They form a friendship that gets the townspeople talking. Neither man cares about the other’s skin color, they just need comfort in each other’s bruised souls, and Rees nails the touching friendship they build. “Mudbound” isn’t just one of the best movies of the year, it’s one of the most vitally important. It encompasses, with many brilliant brush strokes, the problems that lie in the American landscape, problems that still pertain to the political conversation today."