Mississippi Blues

Directors Robert Parrish and Bertrand Tavernier collaborated on this documentary about the American South, a subject Parrish knew by birth (he was born in Georgia) and Tavernier and his French crew only by legend. Although made with obvious affection, MISSISSIPPI BLUES is too unfocused and meandering to have any impact.

The project's point of reference is William Faulkner (whose work, says narrator Parrish, is required reading in French schools), so they begin with a visit to the novelist's grave in Oxford, Mississippi. Aside from a few diversions, as when the two directors discuss what was the best film ever made about the South (they agree on Jean Renoir's 19...