Dee Rees asked Rachel Morrison to focus on " the idea of the American dream vs. the American reality " , so Rachel turned to books by Farm Security Administration photographers for reference points regarding color and composition , in particular Dorothea Lange , Arthur Rothstein , Ben Shahn and Walker Evans . Another primary source for her was a Gordon Parks essay in '' Life '' magazine in the 1950s called " A Segregation Story " – regarding color that " felt period , but it did n't feel washed-out " . Rachel 's term for the goal they tried to achieve is " subjective naturalism " , which she describes as first of all , real ; and then potentially dramatized with light at main plot points – but remaining real throughout . Through that reality , the focus was on the elements in the picture and not the period itself : " The period was n't a character in this film . The mud was a character , the weather was a character , the house was a character ... we were trying to make more of a commentary about just how tough times were through experiences . " A. O. Scott in the '' New York Times '' on the result : " Rachel ... brings the soil , the flora and the weather to life in a way that emphasizes the archaic , elemental power of the story . " Following its 2017 Sundance Film Festival premiere , '' Mudbound '' had distribution offers from A24 and Annapurna Pictures . On January 29 , 2017 , Netflix acquired distribution rights to the film . The film premiered on the streaming platform , as well as began a one week theatrical release in New York City and Los Angeles , on November 17 , 2017
2017 Sundance Film Festival
2017 Sundance Film Festival
Mudbound (film)