Mud: A Subtle Portrait of Firsts

When I first saw the preview for the film Mud on TV I was surprised because there had been little promotion for it.  Mud looked interesting, though, and had good actors in it, including Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon.  It looked like one of those films that serves as a portrait of the south, and from some reason I am particularly drawn to those.

Mud did not disappoint.  It is a bildungsroman, or coming-of-age tale, of a couple of best friends.  Ellis and "Neckbone" learn about love, loss, and how people are complicated and live in an eternal grey area-where it's difficult to tell exactly what's wrong and what's right.

The setting is as complex as the people in the movie.  Set in the deep south, Mississippi, there is a clash between city and life on the river.

Matthew McConaughey is great as the title character, a man with a good heart who is misguided and usually on the losing side in life.  He is also a bit self-destructive as he keeps saving and sticking with Juniper, a childhood love (Witherspoon).  I'm not sure what happened to make McConaughey snap out of the 8ish years of soulless rom-com hell he was stuck in, where he wasted any of the talent he had, but whatever it is he should keep it up.  This is the McConaughey we had hoped for, the one in Amistad and A Time to Kill.  This is the actor who can play flawed characters that are ultimately good and who can also play men who are anything but good and live on the outskirts of life.  In The Lincoln Lawyer I started to wonder if he could only give impressive performances when he plays lawyers.  Then came Killer Joe and Magic Mike.  He also has Dallas Buyers Club coming out later this year that already has him talks for being an Oscar contender.

The two young boys, Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland, are excellent in the film.  Their performances are so natural, and like the film, stoic and subtle.  Mud is a hidden gem indeed.