Mud

14 year old Ellis (Tye Sheridan) lives with his mum Mary Lee (Sarah Paulsen) and father "Senior" (Ray Mckinnon) by the River in Arkansas. Their ramshackle boat house providing easy access to scratch a living selling fish from the mighty Mississippi.

Ellis is free to roam the bye waters in his boat with his friend "Neckbone" (Jacob Lofland) who lives with his uncle Galen (Michael Shannon). Galen keeps himself in beer by diving for oysters in the murky depths, when not loving the ladies to his favourite tunes or playing the guitar.

This is a tough, real life day to day type of existence, well away from the American lives you normally see on the big screen. It is a change to see people that are struggling, yet largely content and portrayed as loving their kids, caring about them as best they can and not turning to violence at a moments notice.

Stumbling across a boat stuck high up in the trees on a deserted island, the boys believe they have found their perfect hideout. After a while they realise they are not the first to find the boat. Notwithstanding all the possible avenues the story could take, horror or something sinister with the older man interacting with younger boys, the story takes none of the conventional routes.

Meeting "Mud" (McConaughey) we meet a perfectly formed complex character, conversing in the usual but even more pronounced southern drawl. Armed with a pistol and a strong independent survival instinct, he starts to rely or manipulate, dependant on your viewpoint, the boys to his main aim. Retaining or retrieving the love of his life "Juniper" (Reece Witherspoon), his sole reason for being is to ensure her safety away from the forces of evil, that he perceives continue to follow her.

To give too much away would spoil the film but fair to say, the story meanders and forks in the same way the Mississippi, ever present in the background, continues to do. The delicate friendships and loyalties that are built and called into question, are all beautifully and believably portrayed.

Tye Sheridan is strong yet vulnerable, experiencing the pitfalls of young love and the upheavals of his home-life require him to trust someone, whether he makes the right choices remain to be seen. McConaughey is well cast and acquits himself well, with a thoughtful layered performance that goes well beyond the stereotypes you might expect. There is a sense of loss through the movie but it is never clear what has been left behind, the ending in particular is sensitively handled. Witherspoon does not get much screen-time but makes the most of the scenes she has, portraying a character one step up from trailer trash. However she remains a constant contradiction of smarts and foolishness wrapped within a superficially simple yet complicated persona.

Matthew McConaughey has recently rescued himself from recent Rom Com hell with a string of good performances in films that actually matter, his recent collaboration with Scorsese in "Wolf of Wall Street" is a good example. It is good to see his career resurrection and start to get noticed again for his obvious acting ability. Director and writer Jeff Nichol has coaxed excellent performances especially from his young cast, whilst placing them in a believable world of which most audiences have no previous experience Complaints, the character played by Sam Shephard feels more like a plot convenience than reality and arguably Sheridan makes it hard for his co-star to shine when his performance is so strong and front and centre.

Summary

A hugely enjoyable film that perhaps defies comparisons and convention. With a story that has time to grow and confound, there are many pleasures to be had.

Like an updated Tom Sawyer novel about nothing and everything, this comes highly recommended.

Caught between childhood and teenage years, two best friends, Ellis and Neckbone, are having to navigate through the murky waters of life that has surprises at every bend. When they arrive their childhood play area - a boat that has gotten stuck in the trees during a storm - they discover an adult is now inhabiting it. Just at a time when they are beginning to recognize their own pre-adult urgings awakening inside them, they discover who is living in their tree house of sort and make friends with him. He becomes a mentor to them just when the murky waters have become too muddy to see clearly, and he tells them how his own life has been shipwrecked because of a love affair that began when he was about their age.

The man named Mud had fallen in love with a girl named Juniper when he was a kid and never recovered from the experience. Just as her name implies, she is a bittersweet, prickly creature whose fragrance has gotten into his nostrils and he thinks he can't live without her. On the other hand, she is fickle with love, not appreciating what he has to offer, and only accepting it when it's according to her whims. This mirrors the relationship that Ellis finds himself in with his "girlfriend," May Pearl.

Neckbone, on the other hand, has never had anyone love him except for an uncle whose relationships with women are on his terms and usually consist of one night, or to be more exact, one afternoon, stands. On the other hand, his uncle knows how to find the pearls others don't see, and he has found one in the boy he calls Neckbone.

Ellis can't help comparing his father's relationship with his mother to his new friend, who will do anything to defend the honor of this woman, even if it means going to jail for the rest of his life, and his father is falling short in his estimation. On one hand, his father is telling him how bad women can be and on the other hand, he has this friend telling him that they are worth everything. This conflicts Ellis, and he finds himself in his own set of conflicts as he defends the girl in his life.

Mud's stories are larger than life, and one wonders what is real and what is not. Juniper calls him a liar, but is he really? By the conclusion, one begins to see that Mud's actions are not as murky as they at first seem. In the end, will the river of life lead them to larger horizons where they can grow from their experiences?

Mud was very well-received by a packed house at the Paramount Theatre for its Regional Premiere at Austin's SXSW Film Festival. The crowd particularly loved local favorites director Jeff Nichols and the always shape-shifting Matthew McConaughey. (How is it possible that McConaughey hasn't even been nominated for an Oscar yet?) Mud is a charming, entrancing film that has almost lyrical quality as it unfolds along the rural backwoods of Arkansas's Mississippi River. The story revolves around the adventures of two young teenage boys who meet a mysterious drifter appropriately named Mud. Mud is hiding out an island in the Mississippi River awaiting the arrival of his beloved Juniper. The story has elements of drama, thriller, and romance. While the film is slightly too long and the story has a few unnecessary and distracting subplots, its overall eloquence and is absorbing. So like the Mississippi, the story meanders a little too much. The River setting becomes a character in the film that shapes the drama playing out along it. The two teenage actors are excellent, but the film is tour-de-force for McConaughey who is its heart and soul. Highly recommended for those who like serious drama and appreciate natural beauty.

An exquisite piece of filmmaking from writer-director Jeff Nichols, bolstered by powerful performances from Matthew McConaughey, Reece Witherspoon, Sam Shephard, Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland. 'Mud' is a beautifully shot film that blends crime, drama and romance into a heartfelt plot that follows two young boys who encounter a fugitive in need of their help. Set against some of the most unique and stunning locations ever used in a film, 'Mud' is reminiscent of flicks including 'Stand by Me' and 'Night of the Hunter'. Starting off relatively slow, the film steadily urges the viewer into a riveting tale of love, hate and redemption, with McConaughey giving one of his finest performances ever. A realistic and gripping coming-of-age tale that not only stands as being one of the best films of 2012, but one of the best dramas of the past decade.

This is a movie that stays with you. It's a real movie about people, and a place--not car chases and explosions. I don't agree with the mixed reviews and complaints about the length of the movie. Matthew McConnahey is well-cast. All of the actors do a good work; Reese Witherspoon, Sam Sheppard. Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland do a great job playing the child characters. The Mississippi river is like a character in the movie, which evokes Huckleberry Finn, as others have noted. The settings are magnificent. In a sea of manufactured movies, it's nice to see something that was crafted by human beings. I would recommend this movie to those who are interested.

The audience in the theater I was in seemed absorbed.