It was not that long ago that Miramax, under the helm of the Weinstein Brothers, was the company shaking up the mainstream and bringing multiplex success and Oscars to edgy independent titles such as Sex, Lies & Videotape (1989), Farewell My Concubine (1993), The Piano (1993), Pulp Fiction (1994) and Transporting (1996) to name just a few era defining examples. As distributors and producers, the Weinsteins certainly had great taste but they were not innovators. They had no ambitions of disrupting the Hollywood model and merely elbowed and intimidated their way to the top table. From Chocolat (2000) to Chicago (2002) the Weinstein brand was also responsible for filling the Awards season with overhyped mediocre titles and, as we now know, propagating an unconscionable amount of casting couch misogyny behind the scenes. By the time the Weinsteins had founded their eponymous mini major (TWC) in 2005 they were indistinguishable from the competition and for every Fruitvale Station (2013) they produced there were a slew of middlebrow crowd pleasers.
One title which could cross over in this watershed year however, is Noah Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories (New & Selected) which made it's cinematic debut in some territories back in October but is available to the discerning subscriber right now. This is precisely the type of autumn release adult dramedy which dominated end of year best of and awards short lists in years past - usually with Woody Allen's name attached. Baumbach also shares Allen's love of black and white title cards and New York settings, but other than that continues to pull further away from the limiting Allen comparisons with each new film. The Meyerowitz Stories concerns with dysfunctional families and thwarted artistic ambitions may be familiar from the writer/director's criminally under seen prior features (The Squid & the Whale (2005), Frances Ha (2012) and to a lesser extent 2015's Mistress America) but it doesn't matter as the script is so funny and erudite. Baumbach also draws wonderful performances from Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson and Elizabeth Marvel and reminds us what truly talented actors Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler really are. Hoffman hilariously plays an insufferable sculptor who has spent more time nurturing professional grudges than his own three children (Stiller, Sandler and Marvel, who quietly steals every scene she is in). It is a film about forgiving your parents and displays an emotional intelligence that is rarely found in cinematic comedy nowadays.
The Netflix production with the best chance of garnering Oscar nominations next January was, however, released through the platform last Friday as well as in select cinemas in New York, Los Angeles and London to keep Academy purists happy. Dee Rees's Mudbound has been quietly gathering great notices since its Sundance premiere back in January and recent screenings at the American Film Institute and The Rome Film Festival have further added to the positive critical buzz. As a handsomely mounted historical drama that deals with race, Mudbound has Oscar nominee written all over it but it is what director and co-adaptor (with Virgil Williams) Rees brings to the project, from outside the mainstream, which is what makes it truly exciting. Based on Hillary Jordan's novel, the film examines how black and white American lives were transformed by their experience in World War Two and Rees provides a truly Steinbeckian sense of injustice to the 1940s Mississippi setting. However, the story focuses not just on the returning soldiers but their respective families and consequently the appalling gender and racial inequality of that time and place. The climax of the film is a horrifying hate crime which has repercussions for everyone and violence against black people is not merely a plot device to enable a "good" white character to be heroic - it is depicted as an ingrained, virulent societal poison. What's more, the director of Pariah has a palpable empathy for outsiders bringing a visceral quality to the transgressive friendship at the centre of the story. Cinematographer Rachel Morrison (Fruitvale Station) creates some exceptionally beautiful images without taking away from the grimness of the rural setting and avoiding the sentimental sheen of "hovel beautiful" that Spielberg gave to The Color Purple (1985) - as once dubbed by the caustic Richard Corliss.
Rees is above all an exceptional director of actors who has cast the film with distinctive faces that fit the period. Carey Mulligan, a fine actress who is often miscast, has never been better and is much more believable here than in her agrarian turn in Far From The Madding Crowd (2015). Jason Mitchell, Garrett Hedlund, Australian actor Jason Clarke and Rob Morgan (last seen as one of Hawkins' Finest in Stranger Things) are all excellent and in her screen debut, Mary J. Blige brings a quiet dignity to the role of Florence that eschews the cliches of the stoic matriarch. Jonathan Banks' (Better Call Saul) performance as a garden variety bigot and bully capable of monstrous acts offers a stern riposte to the KKK apologists who would want you to believe "that's just how white people were back then".There are some missteps. Rees recreates the novel's multi-character narration with frequent voiceover. In some cases, such as Laura's (Mulligan) observations on the constant presence of death in farm life or Hap's (Morgan) rumination on the double meaning of deed, these add texture to the characters' inner and outer lives but more often they only labour what has already been established by Rees and Morrison's eloquent imagery. Similarly, the WWII battle scenes are the least convincing in the film (it is no Dunkirk) and the causes of Jamie (Hedlund) and Ronsel's (Mitchell) PTSD could have been more effectively revealed in their taut dialogue scenes together further adding to the feeling of isolation and claustrophobia at being back in Mississippi. Overall though Mudbound is a tremendously moving experience whether seen on the big or small screen and if Oscar recognition comes next year, it will be well deserved.
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