1223 The Underground Railroad

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DarkImbecile
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1223 The Underground Railroad

#1 Post by DarkImbecile » Wed Jun 06, 2018 3:37 pm

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A monumental reimagining of American history, Barry Jenkins’s adaptation of Colson Whitehead’s Pulitzer Prize–winning 2016 novel is a harrowing and rhapsodic journey through a still-echoing past. Weaving together historical fiction with moments of magical realism, The Underground Railroad is a full sensory immersion into the world of Cora (Thuso Mbedu), who, fleeing slavery, embarks on a treacherous quest for freedom—and is menaced by violence, supported by a clandestine community fighting for liberation, and haunted by the people she loses along the way. With images of searing power and stirring poetry, Jenkins delivers an epic saga of survival and resilience that pushes the limited-series format to new heights of cinematic transcendence.

DIRECTOR-APPROVED FOUR-BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES

4K digital master, approved by cowriter-director Barry Jenkins, with Dolby Atmos soundtrack
Alternate stereo soundtrack
New audio commentary featuring Jenkins and, on select chapters, cinematographer James Laxton and lead editor Joi McMillon, with an introduction by the director
New graphic-novel adaptation of “Genesis,” an unfilmed chapter of The Underground Railroad written by Jenkins and Nathan C. Parker, with an introduction by Jenkins
The Gaze, a companion film by Jenkins, with a new introduction by the director
Deleted scenes
Seven teasers made by Jenkins, with a new introduction by the director
Building “The Underground Railroad,” a short program featuring Jenkins and production designer Mark Friedberg discussing the creation of the train-station sets
English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing and English descriptive audio
PLUS: An essay by critic Angelica Jade Bastién

New cover by Antonio Stella

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Persona
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The Underground Railroad

#2 Post by Persona » Sun May 16, 2021 9:57 pm

Just watched the first episode. A bit dumbstruck. Will certainly take my time with this one. Not binge-able, and I mean that as a compliment.

Critical praise has been fairly unanimous but the GA seems very mixed on it based on online. I've seen a lot of people talking about how it's not accurate (of course it isn't, they seem to have no clue about what this show is trying to do) and others annoyed that it doesn't take a more realistic or "true story" approach. I kind of scoff at these limited viewpoints at the same time I find myself pondering what it means to have this subject matter expressed through a heightened fantasy reality. Or to experience, for instance, a needle drop of a song I love at the end of Episode 1 that has me wondering if that is in poor taste or if the whole enterprise is or, uh, maybe art itself is a bad idea. And I am not serious, but that's the rabbit hole with this thing. Part of me understands the complaints at the same time I am very taken with what Jenkins has tried to do and the rich vivacity of the aesthetic (there's at least two shots that felt like Storaro to me) and the boldness of the narrative mode. We will see how it goes from here. Like I said, I plan to take it slow.

I feel like this show is inviting of some pretty complex discussion. Curious to see how this board feels about it as I could see it going every possible way.

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barryconvex
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Re: The Underground Railroad

#3 Post by barryconvex » Sat May 29, 2021 3:08 am

This was good. For all ihis skill Jenkins' spends the first couple episodes on a fairly basic conceit that no film on this subject has yet to escape- black people good, white people evil. As accurate as that may or may not be I never need to see another slave being mistreated by the cruel massa for like ever. My hopes were fading fast but Jenkins expands on the material quite admirably introducing some grey areas with the female lead being
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guilty of murdeing a white man-although I can't recall right now if it was done in self defense, in the act of escaping or purely as revenge for a multitude of atrocities.
while spending a good chunk of time focusing on an entirely self sufficient black community in Indiana. The episode that most sticks in my mind a couple weeks after finishing this is the seventh and shortest, Fanny Briggs. A beautiful, graceful interlude that plays like a spiritual and is one of the great elegies to the forgotten dead of this era of the American south.

As per usual I have nothing but good things to say about the performances: Thuso Mbedu is remarkable as the female lead Cora, it's her odyssey through the American south and midwest that drives the story and she carries the entire series but Joel Edgerton gives the performance of a lifetime as the runaway slave hunter Ridgeway who's less a character on a tv show than the personification of all things malevolent that have festered at or just under the surface of this country's moral skin since its inception. I'm sorry for using this term but his work here is truly staggering and a character this hateful has never existed before, seemingly omnipotent in his abilities to track, infiltrate and destroy black lives- he's the sickness of racism in human form. I'm tempted to compare him to Ralph Fiennes character Amon Goeth in Schnindler's List and while their capacities for violence may be similar Fiennes' played Goeth as unhinged, psychotic: an unsympathetic monster with no depth of feeling or comprehension of the suffering around him. I'm not knocking Fiennes, his choices work within the philosophy of that movie and he was playing an historical figure that he needed to be somewhat faithful to but to put it in contrast in Railroad Edgerton's character is assisted in his efforts by an eight year old free black child whom he treats as an equal.
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Perhaps as an attempt to atone for a sin from his childhood?
He has the capacity to respect these people but there's something primal in his nature that may or may not have become infected through the years of trying to reconcile his jealousies and resentments with his conscience and sense of goodness. This is the show's master stroke and adds a rich dimension of incomprehensible horror to Ridgeway's actions that meshes perfectly with the horror of the time period.

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TheKieslowskiHaze
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Re: The Underground Railroad

#4 Post by TheKieslowskiHaze » Mon May 31, 2021 9:58 pm

I have mixed feelings about the show. I appreciate your thoughts about Ridgeway, whose villainy is presented in uncomfortable, almost confrontational ways. It's as if the show dares viewers to empathize with him and then asks us to seriously self reflect on that desire for empathy. I thought it was all very complicated, interesting, and frightening.

Having read the book as well, I thought the series did a good job translating the book's dystopian tone. It feels as indebted to 1984 as it is to Roots.

Also, on a purely technical level, it's simply one of, if not THE, best looking TV shows I've ever seen.

My biggest issue is that it drags. Simply put, I did not think the amount of story and character development they had with this material was worth a ten episode miniseries.
barryconvex wrote:
Sat May 29, 2021 3:08 am
For all ihis skill Jenkins' spends the first couple episodes on a fairly basic conceit that no film on this subject has yet to escape- black people good, white people evil.
I do not think this statement is quite fair. I have issues with Django Unchained, but it's clearly about the evils of white supremacy, which is not the same as being about the evils of white people. The villains of that movie are the people--white and black--who support the white supremacist system. The heroes are those--white and black--who oppose it. There are other texts about slavery (Beloved especially) that are appropriately nuanced.

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Persona
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Re: The Underground Railroad

#5 Post by Persona » Tue Jun 01, 2021 6:00 pm

I like the pacing so far (I am on episode 6) but will agree that I can see it being a pain point for some and absolutely think episode 5 was too drawn out. It tries hard to be moody and atmospheric and due to some inexplicable editing choices trips over into ponderous. That was about 10-20 minutes of story stretched into an hour.
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And when Jasper's been so scantily drawn as a character, hard not to feel the episode's final focus hollow, though that feels almost callous to type.
Still, the cinematography, score, and sound design are doing so much work in every moment of this show. Jenkins clearly has a powerful synergy with his trusted collaborators as they seem to do their best work by far for him.

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Re: 1223 The Underground Railroad

#6 Post by aox » Fri Mar 15, 2024 12:42 pm

IMDB curiously lists this under the genres of "Drama, Fantasy".

Fantasy?

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Finch
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Re: 1223 The Underground Railroad

#7 Post by Finch » Fri Mar 15, 2024 12:46 pm

This is not their first Amazon Studios licence, or is it?

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Re: 1223 The Underground Railroad

#8 Post by Jean-Luc Garbo » Fri Mar 15, 2024 12:52 pm

Pretty sure the McQueen series was one. Unbelievably excited they're releasing this one. But no interview with the novel's author?

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Re: 1223 The Underground Railroad

#9 Post by gcgiles1dollarbin » Fri Mar 15, 2024 12:53 pm

aox wrote:
Fri Mar 15, 2024 12:42 pm
IMDB curiously lists this under the genres of "Drama, Fantasy".

Fantasy?
Indeed it is, in part:
SpoilerShow
Let's just say "railroad" is fully realized. (I haven't seen the series, but the novel is excellent, and I'm assuming this element was included in the adaptation.)

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Ribs
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Re: 1223 The Underground Railroad

#10 Post by Ribs » Fri Mar 15, 2024 12:54 pm

aox wrote:
Fri Mar 15, 2024 12:42 pm
IMDB curiously lists this under the genres of "Drama, Fantasy".

Fantasy?
Yes? It’s essentially science fiction.

Small Axe was not licensed from Amazon Studios.

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Re: 1223 The Underground Railroad

#11 Post by DimitriL » Fri Mar 15, 2024 12:56 pm

Finch wrote:
Fri Mar 15, 2024 12:46 pm
This is not their first Amazon Studios licence, or is it?
Sound of Metal and One Night in Miami, no?

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domino harvey
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Re: 1223 The Underground Railroad

#12 Post by domino harvey » Fri Mar 15, 2024 1:07 pm

Cold War was the first, I believe

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Re: 1223 The Underground Railroad

#13 Post by cdnchris » Fri Mar 15, 2024 3:00 pm

Finch wrote:
Fri Mar 15, 2024 12:46 pm
This is not their first Amazon Studios licence, or is it?
Here's a list of their Amazon licenses. 5 so far, not counting The Underground Railroad (which I have yet to enter). Small Axe was licensed from the BBC.

Cold War
One Night in Miami...
Time
Sound of Metal
Nanny

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