Review of Mud (2013) by Kenneth L — 06 Apr 2014

This is simply a great movie. It's one of those cases where everything just clicks - the acting, the screenplay, the direction, everything gels perfectly. It's not experimental or groundbreaking; it's not a grand statement on important issues; it didn't win any major awards (unfortunately). It's just a really, really good story, well told. Sometimes that's all you want or need from a movie.

The movie follows two 14-year-old Arkansas boys (Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland) who one day get on a boat, go out into the Mississippi River, and discover a small island inhabited by a mysterious man known only as Mud (Matthew McConaughey). Gradually, they learn about how Mud came to be on the island and become involved in his quest to reunite with Juniper (Reese Witherspoon), the woman he loves.

This is a great character-driven drama. I was surprised by the fact that it doesn't lean too heavily on McConaughey (though he is excellent here, and the film is still an important part of "the McConaissance"). Despite being the title character and the main engine of the plot, Mud's really a supporting player here. The real stars are Sheridan and Lofland, and they're both remarkably natural and convincing. Sheridan was also the son in The Tree of Life, but this movie provides him a much better opportunity to act than that one did. Reese Witherspoon is pretty good here too, and Sam Shepard gets a great supporting part as a mysterious old man who lives across the river from one of the boys. Michael Shannon, the incredible actor who starred in writer-director Jeff Nichols's previous Take Shelter, also has a fun supporting part here, though I couldn't help but wish he had a bigger part.

The movie has a really wonderful sense of atmosphere, without ever lingering noticeably over the setting. It's a somewhat gentler vision of the South than we got in Nichols's previous works, but it doesn't feel romanticized; it's got just the right amount of grittiness and danger to feel convincing. The story is compelling and slowly reveals layers to what's going on; it actually feels like we never quite get the full story, since we're mostly limited to the boys' perspective, but you get enough to be satisfied. Sometimes people complain that "they don't make 'em like they used to"; this movie proves that, sometimes, they still do.