The Free State of Jones (2016)

[Groggy]

Throwing garbage at the screen at random intervals is preferable to cliché. If you say so.

[dave jenkins]

Throwing garbage at the screen at random intervals is preferable to cliché. If you say so.

Where did "garbage" come from? Oh, right, out of your ass. As per usual.

[dave jenkins]

btw, I notice your use of the words "random" and "randomly". Maybe you have a different understanding of what those terms mean. I certainly remember a scene in the film just after the birth of a child that shows Newt Knight recording the birth in his family bible. Then there is a jump in time to the trial where that very bible is being introduced into evidence. Now, you may feel that that second scene occurs randomly, but I think most people watching the film would conclude that the two scenes are deliberately juxtaposed. We are supposed to notice the first and then apply that recognition to the second. And what has been done with deliberation cannot, to my mind, be considered random.

Of course, maybe you just didn't notice this. You didn't notice the fact that the "son" was actually the "great-grandson", so maybe you didn't notice how the flash forwards were deliberately arranged, not random at all. Maybe you'll catch the pattern on a re-watch.

[dave jenkins]

Wow, Garry Ross actually has a website where he not only distinguishes fact and fiction in his film, he actually documents what is true: http://freestateofjones.info/

[Spikeopath]

I agree that it wasn't a bad idea, but there wasn't any rhyme or reason to how Ross integrated those scenes in the story. If this had been established as a framing device, it could have worked. As is, it's just brief, random flash forwards strung carelessly into the plot.

Surely - and it's a big theme of the narrative point - it emphasises the race battle still being fought many years later, I don't see carelessness at all.

[Spikeopath]

As a Brit I found it a fascinating pic, problems for sure, but worthy. Watching it again tonight and will add a review to thread this week.