| Mississippi Damned | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Tina Mabry |
| Produced by | Lee V. Stiff Morgan R. Stiff |
| Screenplay by | Tina Mabry |
| Starring | Adam Clark Malcolm Goodwin Michael Hyatt |
| Music by | Ryan Adison Amen |
| Cinematography | Bradford Young |
| Editing by | Morgan R. Stiff |
| Studio | Morgan's Mark |
| Release date(s) | January 16, 2009 (Slamdance Film Festival) |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Mississippi Damned (2009) is an American drama film directed by Tina Mabry. The drama features Adam Clark, Malcolm Goodwin and Michael Hyat. The film was written and directed by Tina Mabry, based on her life growing up in Tupelo, Mississippi.[1][2]
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A trio of impoverished children living in rural Mississippi find that they must make a heart-wrenching decision between traveling down the paths taken by their doomed families and confronting the harsh realities that arise over time.
When the film was screen at the NewFest film festival in New York City, Variety film critic Ronnie Scheib, praised the film, writing, "For the black men, women and children in Mississippi Damned, Tina Mabry's autobiographical saga of intertwined destinies, that southern state epitomizes a domestic hell of borderline poverty and endemic abuse. Complex family trees sometimes make for tough narrative sledding, but the thicket of obligations, traumas and betrayals that entrap the 'damned' here are well worth any momentary confusion. Mabry brilliantly captures a community as organic as it is dead-end, and the tortured legacy behind simplistic notions of ever escaping it. The NewFest audience award-winner demands strong critical support to overcome its downbeat subject matter and lack of a star draw."[3]
The Philadelphia Inquirer film critic, Steven Rea, lauded the actors, writing, "Kelley (Walt Lloyd in Lost), Jasmin Burke and Jossie Thacker are among the busy ensemble whose exceptionally fine performances elevate what could have been a pile-it-on melodrama into something deeper and more unsettling."[4]