From the first feature film "Untouchables", African-American female director Di Rees has shown extraordinary development potential, and the film also explores issues such as race, sexuality, gender, class, etc., and handles it delicately and profoundly through the simple backbone of the growth story, so that its future trends have attracted much attention. After the well-evaluated biographical film "Queen of the Blues", Di Rees's latest work "Dirt Boundary" once again exceeded the audience's expectations, whether in terms of framework or technique, it is a higher level, through the life story of an African-American family generation, exploring the racial discrimination and survival dilemma in the American South before and after World War II. Although the film itself has occasional flaws, the whole still shines brightly from time to time, not only confirming that the past reputation is not an accident, but also allowing Di Rees to go further towards the title of film master of this era, and the future is unlimited.
Adapted from Hillary Jordan's novel of the same name, The Dirt Frontier revolves around two Southern American families: Henry, the unattractive but dream-filled white patriarch, his wife Laura, and his dashing brother Jamie; and the upspoken but sophisticated black sharecropper Hap, with his family and eldest son, Runcell, who have interacted, clashed and struggled over several years.
Di Reese
Compared with recent classics that explore similar works such as "Twelve Years of Slavery" or "The Birth of a Nation", the scripts of Dee Reese and Virgil Williams do not explore specific story lines or character journeys, but are more like a family chronicle that travels between the times, so that although the story is occasionally slightly hasty (the more explicit treatment of racial discrimination and persecution in the later part of the film is not as profound and powerful as the subtlety of the first half), the two families are full of complex and three-dimensional interactions, such as an unexpected sequelae , or the exploration of the land in the film, is a rare but profound bridge in contemporary cinema.
Rachel Morrison
In terms of shooting, Di Rees's steady and powerful shooting, coupled with Rachel Morrison's absolutely beautiful and intense photography (Morrison himself is also one of the most high-profile photographs in recent years, in addition to this film, there are also "Cool" and "Flatville Station", also as the photographer of "Black Panther"), the poor and poor southern field life, through a limited budget, shooting full of strength. Although Di Rees has chosen a broader narrative perspective, the mood is as delicate as ever, and with a simple but poetic narration, it adds the necessary flesh and blood to the complex relationship of the above plot.
Carey Mulligan (right)
Carey Mulligan, who plays the depressed heroine, and Jason Clark, whose acting skills have always been changeable, have both delivered realistic performances, including actors such as Rob Morgan (sharecropper) who have also blended seamlessly with the world of the film, but the two young male protagonists Jason Mitchell and Garnett Hedland, who are not sure that they are limited by the story or role, can not push the film to a more shocking peak at the end, which is a slight pity.
Ava Dewier
As a movie, "Dirt World" is excellent but not perfect, but the wonderful pictures, rich emotions, current events, and grand patterns in it are well deserved as the key Oscar hopes of Netflix this year. The growth of Ava Dewier from "The End of the Day" to "Selma" is like the process of Di Reese in "Queen of The Blues" to "Dirt Boundary", and whether Dee Reese can become an iconic director like Dewey in the future is quite remarkable.
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