The white McAllan family includes Carey Mulligan, Jason Clarke, Garrett Hedlund (last blogged for Suffragette, Zero Dark Thirty, and On the Road, respectively) and Jonathan Banks (he has a long resume but is best known for playing Mike Ehrmantraut on 28 episodes of Breaking Bad and 31 of Better Call Saul). The African-American Jackson family is headed up by Rob Morgan (eleven episodes of Stranger Things as Officer Powell and much more) and singer Mary J. Blige (she has a quick mention in Rock of Ages and is the most lauded in the acting group so far), with Jason Mitchell (most recently in Detroit) as the eldest son. All seven won a special Gotham Jury Award for ensemble performance.
Director/co-writer Dee Rees (Pariah) adapted Hillary Jordan's 2008 novel with Virgil Williams (his feature debut after writing many and producing more TV episodes).
When I say "dark," I mean literally as well as figuratively. The sun was shining one of the days I watched and it was difficult to block it enough to see everything on the screen.
Composer Tamar-kali also makes her feature debut (after contributing some songs to Pariah) and you can stream the 51 minute soundtrack, beginning with a Blige song, from this link.
Rotten Tomatoes' critics are swooning at 97% and its audiences aren't too far behind with 87. Don't watch it right before bed for fear of nightmares.
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