Mudbound

With just her second feature - not including the HBO biopic of jazz singer Bessie Smith - director Dee Rees takes a step out of the indie world with an overambitious but confident period piece that promises to raise her into the major league. Poverty, race and the Second World War are just some of the subjects covered in this sweeping adaptation of Hillary Jordan's novel, which tells the parallel stories of two families, one black, one white, in the rural south of America. The slow parsing of information, coupled with the distracting use of multiple-character voiceover, doesn't make it immediately obvious where things are headed. However, excellent performances - notably from Straight Outta Compton's Jason Mitchell, the UK's Carey Mulligan and R&B star Mary J Blige - keep things moving until all the film's seemingly disparate strands are pulled together in a shocking, violent and sadly, still timely, climax.