Crisp Criticism - "Mudbound", "The Killing of a Sacred Deer", "Detroit"

by

Julien Faddoul

Mudbound **

Two men return home from World War II to work on a farm in rural Mississippi, where they struggle to deal with racism and adjusting to life.

Sprawling, confident racial drama, graciously acted and directed. It suffers from some oversimplification and thus the intense emotions on display aren’t always cohesive.

d – Dee Rees

w – Dee Rees, Virgil Williams   (Based on the Novel by Hillary Jordan)

ph – Rachel Morrison

pd – David J. Bomba

m – Tamar-Kali

ed – Mako Kamitsuna

cos – Michael T. Boyd

p – Sally Jo Effenson, Cassian Elwes, Kim Roth, Carl Effenson, Tim Zajaros, Christopher Lemole, Charles D. King

Cast: Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Jason Mitchell, Garrett Hedlund, Mary J. Blige, Rob Morgan, Jonathan Banks, Kerry Cahill, Dylan Arnold, Lucy Faust, Kelvin Harrison

The Killing of a Sacred Deer *

A beloved surgeon is forced to make an unthinkable sacrifice after his life starts to fall apart, when the behavior of a teenage boy he has taken under his wing turns sinister.

Ridiculous, not especially funny black comedy with no discernible point other than to attempt to ape the films of Stanley Kubrick. Early sequences work best, in which Lanthimos elegantly exhibits his peculiar tone, working well with a dedicated cast. But this is the first time his script has felt both unremitting and unavailing.  

d – Yorgos Lanthimos

w – Yorgos Lanthimos, Efthymis Filippou

ph – Thimios Bakatakis

pd – Jade Healy

ed – Yorgos Mavropsaridis

cos – Nancy Steiner

p – Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Yorgos Lanthimos

Cast: Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, Barry Keoghan, Raffey Cassidy, Sunny Suljic, Alicia Silverstone, Bill Camp

Detroit *

A police raid in Detroit in 1967 results in one of the largest citizens’ uprisings in the history of the United States.

Graphic, protracted, angry recreation of an infamous time that works as an apologue for current social atrocities. Bigelow’s handling of tension is typically forceful, but in focusing primarily on one of the episodes – the Algiers Hotel – the setpieces of brutality and torture are so ferocious as to feel stylized. Ergo, the drama becomes muddy and, once the film reaches its last act of conclusive injustice, somewhat banal, irrespective of the film’s success with its political agenda.

d – Kathryn Bigelow

w – Mark Boal

ph – Barry Ackroyd

pd – Jeremy Hindle

m – James Newton Howard

ed – William Goldenberg, Harry Yoon

cos – Francine Jamison-Tanchuck

p – Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Matthew Budman, Megan Ellison, Colin Wilson

Cast: John Boyega, Will Poulter, Algee Smith, Jason Mitchell, Anthony Mackie, Hannah Murray, Jack Reynor, Ben O'Toole, John Krasinski, Jacob Latimore, Kaitlyn Dever