Original review:
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This movie is inevitably going to get awards buzz when it is picked up and released later this year. Set both during and immediately after WWII, it's a sprawling Southern epic that tackles racial tensions between two families in Mississippi who live on the same farm land. It's a great premise but I actually only found this 'good' rather than 'amazing' like most of the critics seem to be saying already. It's very flawed and would have benefitted from losing roughly 30 minutes or so. The best part of the film is Jason Mitchell, who is absolutely wonderful and heartbreaking here, and should get a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Garrett Hedlund also delivers what might be a career best performance and the two of them are great anchors for the storyline. Every time they are on screen the movie soars. Unfortunately I didn't think the other plotlines worked as well. Carey Mulligan gives a lovely performance but her character doesn't really amount to much, and Jason Clarke is underused as the farm owner. Mary J. Blige is good but I don't think she was award worthy or anything - it's still a strong debut. I thought Jonathan Banks's racist grandfather character was over the top. The movie builds to an effective yet somewhat over-the-top climax, and I'm still not entirely sure it is earned. I also thought the voiceover made sense given what happens later in the film, but it got somewhat overbearing. I think this could be really fantastic if it's cleaned up a little bit before it gets a proper release. It's still more than worth checking out though for Mitchell because, wow, he's really brilliant in this movie. B
Anyways, I saw this at Sundance in January and am not sure if it's been altered since then. It's good but already massively overrated, and the Oscar hype around Mary J. Blige is a joke. The only award worthy performance is from Jason Mitchell.
And considering the Netflix launch last weekend amounted to ZERO buzz amongst general audiences I doubt it will be a big part of the awards conversation this year, no matter how many covers of The Hollywood Reporter Netflix buys.