Red Sparrow is a 2018 spy-thriller film directed by Francis Lawrence who worked with Jennifer Lawrence (the star here) on a couple of the Hunger Games movies, but this is a very different beast. Jennifer Lawrence plays Dominika Egorova (in, it has to be said, a not entirely convincing Russian accent), and Joel Edgerton, Matthias Schoenarts and Charlotte Rampling star as the film's secondary characters. This one is a pretty big departure from what Lawrence has done in the past, although it has to be said that she's making some pretty bold career choices. I'm not the first one to say that, and for a good reason: it's true. After last year's Mother! it appeared as if she was trying purposefully trying to appear in more "mature" films, and believe me, it doesn't get much more mature than Red Sparrow. The film plays out like one of those schlocky exploitation from the seventies, in that there's sexual violence, sex, violence, torture, and all manner o
Warning: this film contains extreme scenes of violence, some involving flagrant racism and other things including PTSD and miscarriage. There's knife murder, and other disturbing scenes. I won't go into much detail in this review, but I think it's important to know that before going into it.
Mudbound is a 2017 American period drama written and directed by Dee Rees, and co-written by Virgil Williams. It stars Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell and Mary J. Blige. It tells the story of two families - one white, one black - at the times before, during, and after World War 2. One of the sons of each family goes to fight in the war, and when they come back, they begin to suffer from PTSD. What follows is a story about struggling with the racism of the time.
Mudbound is extremely long, but there's a lot of stuff going on in this story. Of course, the main theme of this film is a political one, but there are also a lot of personal stories imbued in this film, and that depth gives the entire cast a chance to shine. Carey Mulligan is brilliant in this film, and so are Jason Clarke and Jason Mitchell. Their friendship makes up most of the narrative, and as the film progresses you really start to care about these two characters.
The film also feels surprisingly epic. Quite often, the action moves out of Mississippi to places like Belgium and Germany. There are a couple of moments with aerial fight scenes, and a lot of fights which take place on the ground, too. The entire film feels incredibly visceral, and it's called Mudbound for a reason - there's so much rain, and you really get the sense that the people who live in the rural setting are completely surrounded by the stuff, and the cinematography in this film is fantastic.
Despite its emotional depth, this film doesn't pull any punches when it comes to brutality. I don't want to talk too much about the political themes of this film, because there are people who are far more qualified to talk about them than me, but there is a lot of use of the 'n' word in this, and in the more violent scenes, you do see everything. If they wanted it to be disturbing, they succeeded - whether or not it's exploitative, I'll leave to people who have more of a right to discuss it than I do.
If I was to criticise Mudbound in any way, it'd be that some of the plot points seem a little unexplored. It's as if very bad things happen to the characters, and then one scene later they appear to have completely forgotten about them, and I think some of the scenes could have been edited out. They just had very little to do with the main plot and didn't seem to go anywhere. But it's a minor thing, and those scenes in no way make up the bulk of the film.
Mudbound is an extremely well-made, well-acted film, and it rarely seems to overstay its welcome. It's an incredibly emotionally resonant film, and I think this one will definitely be up for a couple of Oscars next year. If you're a fan of period dramas, check this one - it has a limited release, and is also available on Netflix.
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