"The real reason Mud's in all the trouble he's got is because of her. He's been in love with that girls since he was your age. The trouble is she don't care about nobody but herself. I've told him as much."
Ellis, a 14-year-old Arkansas boy played by Tye Sheridan, lives in a makeshift houseboat on the Mississippi River with his parents. He's done so his entire life, and can't imagine living any other way. When Ellis and his best friend Neckbone, played by Jacob Lofland, one day discover an abandoned boat and its owner, Matthew McConaughey's titular character 'Mud' on a remote island in the Mississippi River, both of their lives change significantly as a direct result of their relationship to this weird yet strangely fascinating individual. The movie is written and directed by 35-year-old trailblazer Jeff Nichols, who also made the movie 'Take Shelter' which I've reviewed in the past, and watching his third directorial effort was a true eye-opening experience for me personally. Mud is a movie that focuses on a wide variety of life's aspects, and all of them are handled incredibly well in my opinion. The movie does have some flaws here and there, which I'll get into later, but all in all I have to admit that this movie is one of the most satisfying and well created pieces of cinema I've seen since I started this blog.
First of all, let's talk about the different characters in Mud, and the actors that play them. Nichols' third movie contains the largest cast he's worked with as of yet, including names such as Michael Shannon, Reese Witherspoon, Sam Shepard and of cause Matthew McConaughey. I expected these well established actors to do great, which they did, McConaughey especially, but one thing I did not see coming, is how stunningly good the two kid actors Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland were. These young boys' performances impressed me on a level that I find hard to put into words, and I think that both of them have great careers ahead of them. I saw an interview with Nichols on YouTube yesterday in which he explains how these young individuals were able to understand their characters' motivations, emotions and situations on a level that he'd never seen 14-year-olds do it before, and I think that this ability to truly grasp their characters and put themselves in their shoes helped them a lot in pulling off these incredibly believable and honest performances. I totally got why these tho boys were friends and why they stuck together through everything they experienced, and rather than being a distraction, which kid actors in movies mostly are, Tye and Jacob are two of the most memorable and distinctive things about Mud.
How lucky do you have to be to not only have two, but three incredible and oscar worthy performances in your movie? Well, if your name is Jeff Nichols, you don't need luck; you just use your inhumane writing talent to create characters with such deep and thought out personalities that they become more than just a character; something so believable and multiayered that the character in question turns into a person that your audience can reach out and almost touch, because of how real he is. I'm of cause talking about Matthew McConaughey's character, Mud, who reaches the level of Anthony Hopkin's Hannibal Lector and Heath Ledger's Joker in terms of sheer impressiveness. There's nothing incidental about this character that Nichols and McConaughey have created; everything from his past experiences, his physical looks, his psychological state of mind, his behaviour and his code of conduct is so carefully crafted that my jaw physically dropped, just a tiny little bit, several times throughout this film. You're never sure whether or not he's telling you the truth or lying straight to your face, whether he's using you for his own good or actually cares about you, but you're absolutely sure of the fact that you want to witness as much of this character as humanly possible.
Nichols character writing ability is awe inspiring for sure, but Matthew McConaughey's power house performance is crucial to the success of Mud, the character, as well. I'd like to see him get a nomination for best actor come oscar season, even though I doubt it'll happen. The fact that Michael Shannon won just about everything there is to win for his performance in Take Shelter, except for the five major awards, which he wasn't even nominated for, says a lot in my opinion. Awesome characters aside; let's talk about what else Jeff Nichols' third movie has to offer. Cinematically, Mud is very fortunate as well. There are several shots in this movie that truly captures the beauty of the story that Nichols tries to tell, and they aid in expressing how the characters are feeling in specific crucial moments of the plot as well. I also thought that a lot of the editing was done very cleverly; more specifically in terms of how McConaughey's character was able to just appear and disappear as he pleased from shot to shot. This might seems like a continuity error to some viewers, but I'm 100% sure that this was done to add a tiny bit supernatural spice to the character. It works very well in the end, and it's a great example of how Nichols uses everything he possibly can to develop and evolve his characters; even editing.
In terms of the actual story of the movie, it does sadly fall a little short. Except for one scene near the end that felt odd compared to the rest of the movie in terms of style and feel, there's nothing in particular that I'm able to put my finger on and explain why it shouldn't have been done the way it was, it's just that the whole story kind of underwhelmed me a little bit. Had it not been for the depth of all the principal characters, the plot of Mud would have been noticeably more bare and visibly bland I think. As I said; there's nothing quote on quote "bad" about the story, it does what it needs to do just fine, it just doesn't stand out in any particular way. Another movie that recently came out that feels very similar in this aspect is Nicolas Winding Refn's 'Only God Forgives', and in the same way that this movie's predecessor, Drive, felt more convincing in its story, the plot of Jeff Nichols' Take Shelter feels more striking and exiting than Mud's. I hope that analogy didn't confuse you too much, but I'm pretty sure that it explains what I mean perfectly. As a result, this lead to me being awkwardly aware that I was watching a movie at all times whilst watching it. This might seem like a weird statement, but as I've mentioned on several other occasions, real movie-masterpieces has the ability remove the barrier between fact and fiction, thereby allowing its audience to dissolve into the experience and live and breathe the story that is being told on the screen. Mud did not have that ability.
In telling this story however, Nichols does manage to say a thing or two about a wide variety of human emotions; the main one being love, in all its shapes and purposes. The main characters Ellis and Mud both use love and affection as their main motivations to do what they do, and Ellis in particular, being only 14 years old, has a lot to learn about these elements of life. His parents' relationship, Mud's relationship to a girl he met when he was even younger than Ellis, and Ellis' own relationship to a high school student that he likes, are all controlled by different kinds of love, and they're a crucial part in our young hero's journey to becoming a grown up human being. More important than any of those kinds of human affection though, is the bond that Ellis shares with his best friend Neckbone. These guys stick with each other no matter how bad things get for them, and even though they probably don't realise it, they have something eternally important together; the power of true friendship. Neckbone's and Ellis' coming of age story and their dependency on each other might be the most important subplot of this movie, and even though it's subtle and discrete, it's an extremely powerful element to this films character progression.
Considering the fact that this incredibly honest, character driven and multilayered piece of cinematic art only is his third picture, I think it's safe to say that Jeff Nichols has a very bright future ahead of him; I know I'll be waiting eagerly to see what he comes up with next myself. The plot of this one might not be as striking as his earlier films' stories, but rarely have I ever seen as well created and carefully crafted movie personalities as in Mud. They're good, almost Heat or Magnolia good, and I hope that Jeff Nichols will keep on making this kind of character centric movies for many years to come. He's the future of this business, it's that simple. As for my rating for this movie, Mud did not have that ability to blur the lines between fiction and reality which I described earlier, and that's the only reason why I'll say that it's "only" worth buying on BluRay. (5/6)
Mud IMDb page here
Mud trailer link here
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