NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Criterion Blu-ray (January 2024): Criterion have transferred Dee Rees's Mudbound to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "New 2K digital master, supervised by director Dee Rees and director of photography Rachel Morrison, with Dolby Atmos soundtrack". Netflix acquired distribution rights and the 1080P image quality is immaculate with kudos to Rachel Morrison's "subjective naturalism" cinematography that captures the elements (rain, wind, mud etc.) and fuses them into the 40's period. It looks flawless in the 2.39:1 widescreen on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate. There may be some golden hues. A beautifully shot film exported impressively to physical media. 

NOTE: We have added 60 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Criterion use a robust Atmos surround track (24-bit) in the original English language. Mudbound has beautiful resonating music; One Morning Soon + Don't You See How They Done My Lord performed by Dr. C.J. Johnson plus songs by Blind Willie Johnson, Lawrence Sieberth, Don Vappie, Charlie Halloran, Dave Boswell, Doug Belote and Ray Moore etc. (notable Mighty River performed by Mary J. Blige who plays 'Florence Jackson' in Mudbound, Raphael Saadiq and Taura Stinson) and a score by Tamar-kali (born Tamara Colletta Brown) who composed for Dees Rees' Pariah. There is rain etc. violence; gunfire and more that carry imposing depth through the track. The audio is dynamic with consistent dialogue. Criterion offer an optional 'Descriptive audio track' and English (SDH) subtitles on their Region 'A'-locked Blu-ray.

NOTE: For Atmos - many non-compliant systems will recognizes it as TrueHD 7.1, but from Wikipedia: "Because of limited bandwidth and lack of processing power, Atmos in home theaters is not a real-time mix rendered the same way as in cinemas. The substream is added to Dolby TrueHD or Dolby Digital Plus. This substream only represents a losslessly encoded fully object-based mix. This substream does not include all 128 objects separated. This is not a matrix-encoded channel, but a spatially-encoded digital channel. Atmos in home theaters can support 24.1.10 channel, but it is not an object-based real-time rendering. Filmmakers need to remix and render the TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus soundtracks with Dolby Media Producer."

The Criterion Blu-ray offers a new commentary by Dee Rees where she shares details that only the director / writer could regarding the production, shooting - that took place over 29 days and specifics on hurdles overcome in the process of filmmaking, her intentions etc.. filming began in New Orleans, including two days in Budapest, Hungary, for the World War II scenes. It covers an immense amount of ground and furthered my, already strong, appreciation of the film. Excellent. There is a new 1/4 hour documentary featuring Rees, composer Tamar-kali, editor Mako Kamitsuna, and makeup artist Angie Wells as well as a new 24-minute documentary made on set, featuring members of the cast and crew. There is also a revealing 1/2 hour interview with DoP Rachel Morrison (Dope) as well as an interview with production designer David J. Bomba (Walk the Line.) Lastly are a trailer and teaser and the package has a liner notes leaflet with an essay by critic Danielle Amir Jackson.

I was blown away by Dee Rees' Mudbound. The screenplay was based on the 2008 debut novel, and international bestseller, by Hillary Jordan. Two young men return from the war to work the land in the Mississippi Delta. The black ex-soldier deals with abject racism and his white neighbor with PTSD and jarring memories of combat. Their worlds intersect both subtly and brutally producing sympathy, anger and tragedy in the backdrop of both family's struggle to survive farming in the elements. Mudbound is a masterfully realized film. The production - from design, costumes and cinematography and brilliantly matched by the impressive performances. I consider this a must-own Blu-ray. Criterion have loaded it with director commentary, interviews, documentaries and essay. Watch this film. Our highest recommendation!

Gary Tooze