Year of release
2012
Directed by
Jeff Nichols
Written by
Jeff Nichols
Starring
Matthew McConaughey
Tye Sheridan
Jacob Lofland
Reese Witherspoon
Michael Shannon
Joe Don Baker
Mud
Plot - 14 year old Ellis (Sheridan) lives on a makeshift houseboat on the banks of a river in Arkansas with his parents. Sneaking out one day with his best friend Neckbone (Lofland) they head to an island on the Mississippi River to investigate an unusual sight; a boat sitting at the top of a tree, the two boys discover someone else has already claimed the boat; a man going by the name of Mud (McConnaughey). Mud enlists the boys to gather supplies for him, promising them the boat in return. As time goes by the boys learn that Mud is hiding out from the law because he killed a man back in Texas. He did so in defence of his great love, Juniper (Witherspoon). With Juniper waiting in town Mud has plans for both of them to make a clean break. Making this a more difficult prospect however is the fact that the father of the man he killed has hired a group of bounty hunters to track down and kill Mud.
On the face of things this may seem like an odd thing to say but I believe that
Mud is one of the best fairytales to hit the big screen in many a year. For anyone who has not seen the film that may cause a furrow of the brow, but in a whole host of ways this really is classic fairytale material. It's a story of a great but seemingly doomed romance. It's a great love between the characters of Mud and Juniper , but there's a man determined to keep them apart; King. So determined is he that he tasks a group of men (the king's men if you will
) to kill Mud and keep them apart. This is classic Disney; not a million miles away from something like
Aladdin, minus the flying carpets and genies of course. Which is not to say that the film doesn't have its own dose of magic sprinkled throughout. The initial event that sparks the whole story into life, a boat sitting at the top of a tree, is quite the fantastical image that could be straight out of a children's fairytale book. Then there's the character of Mud himself, a rather mercurial and even mystical entity who has a bit of an otherworldly quality to him. When the boys first encounter him he seems to appear out of thin air and he is a character driven by superstition. He constantly wears the same shirt over and over again (a supposedly lucky shirt that has a wolf's eye sewn into the sleeve) and he has put nails in the heels of his shoes in the shape of a cross because he was told that it wards off evil spirits and that it will make him turn into a werewolf. Sadly that never actually happens during the movie.
Taking on the role of this unique character, the titular Mud, we have the shirtless wonder that is Matthew McConaughey and he proves to be a very smart piece of casting. His charisma and easygoing charm prove a nice fit for the character whose words could either be the product of a wise man or a bum. Those qualities also help to explain why the young boys would find themselves so ready to help him. There has been much talk of late about McConaughey's rise from the world of the rom-com to being one of the hottest actors currently plying his trade; a rise that has coined the term 'The McConnaisance', and reached its zenith recently when he was awarded the Best Actor Oscar for
Dallas Buyer's Club. While
Mud does serve as another cog in this recent renaissance I don't think it's his performance that is the real story here. While McConaughey does impress, the absolute stand-outs in my eyes would have to be the two young kids at the heart of the story, Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland. Both boys are just so natural in the roles, bringing a great sense of richness to their performances. I think a large part of the reason for this is down to the fact that they aren't really 'screen kids.' They've not grown up in Hollywood and acquired the traits of child actors so their showings are exceptionally genuine. Sheridan had only one previous credit under his belt, Terrence Malick's
Tree of Life, while for Jacob Lofland this was his first ever stab at acting. Sheridan is so sweet and endearing as the well-meaning and honest Ellis while Lofland provides a nice counterbalance as the foul-mouthed and extremely forthright Neckbone. He provides much of the film's comic relief and elicits strong memories of River Phoenix's turn as Chris Chambers in
Stand by Me. In fact coincidentally I even felt there was also quite the strong physical resemblance between the two. There is strong support across the board from the rest of their adult co-stars, with Ray McKinnon being particularly impressive as Ellis' father.
The crux of the story which sets everything in motion is how Ellis reacts to and deals with the news about his parents' impending divorce. As a young boy who is experiencing his own first taste of love he finds it to be a crushing development, one that he cannot comprehend. It is why Ellis is so ready to help Mud in his quest for love; he is trying to hold on to this romantic, ideological and rather naïve view of love. While he may be young in years his ideals are very much that of an old school romantic. We see him twice coming to the defence of a damsel in distress, one of whom then becomes his girlfriend, at least in his mind. On their first date he gives her a gift of a pearl bracelet and asks so sweetly, “want to be my girlfriend?” Just like Mud however, his is a doomed romance. In fact Mud and Ellis are alike in a great number of ways; so much alike in fact that if this were a sci-fi film it would likely culminate with the revelation that Mud was actually the future version of Ellis! In fact throw in his parents' crumbling relationship and the film is a tale of three doomed romances; with Ellis caught in the middle of the differing views of Mud and his father. He hears Mud tell of his epic, unending love for Juniper while at the same time listening to the warnings of his father running down love, telling him that he can't trust women and that “you can't trust love.”
Film Trivia Snippets - The film was quite the boon for the Arkansas economy and its people. Of the film's 1000 strong crew about half of it was made up by Arkansas residents, while the production also hired over 400 locals to act as extras. In fact at the time of shooting Mud was the largest production ever to be filmed in Arkansas. /// Prior to the start of shooting Jeff Nichols described the film as Sam Peckinpah directing a short story by Mark Twain. /// Jeff Nichols started work on Mud's script back in the 1990s and ever since then Matthew McConaughey was always his first choice for the role after seeing him in Lone Star. Despite this Chris Pine was actually in talks to take the title role in May 2011. /// Having worked together on both of Nichols' previous films, Shotgun Stories and Take Shelter, Nichols was desperate to once again cast Michael Shannon. Shannon's involvement with Man of Steel almost made it impossible, but he was eventually able to clear a few days in his schedule to take on the role of Galen. /// The film features a character called Tom Blankenship in a nod to Mark Twain. Tom Blankenship was the name of the real person that Twain based Huckleberry Finn on. /// When it came to the role of the two boys Nichols wanted to cast kids who already knew how to ride dirt bikes and pilot a boat. For the role of Neckbone over 2000 boys auditioned before Jacob Lofland landed the part. /// At the Independent Spirit Awards Mud received the Robert Altman Award which recognises the film's director, casting director and ensemble cast.
In addition to the crumbling of his parent's marriage, the film in its entirety really is about the theme of transition. It's a coming-of-age film about growing up and the unavoidable changes that will affect your life. In the film Ellis is 14 years old, and while most people would argue that it's 12 years old, that age really does feel like the last bastion of childhood. The passing of his childhood is represented symbolically by the passing of a particular way of life; the time of the river is passing, as his father puts it, “this way of life isn't long for this world.” The film places great emphasis on the river throughout, its fluid nature representing that of love and life. The camera frequently takes the opportunity for loving gazes across the river; a river that people call home but where they also earn their living. With its coming-of-age narrative and Southern setting there are a number of touchstones for the film, with Mark Twain's Huck Finn and the classic 80s film
Stand by Me perhaps being the most obvious. Beyond that I found the film summoning up memories of the Harper Lee masterpiece To Kill a Mockingbird. It's quite a famous fact that Lee only ever wrote that one classic tale. Had she ever written a second book, you could easily imagine it may have looked something like this.
Following on from the rather excellent
Take Shelter this is another terrifically impressive and assured effort behind the camera from Jeff Nichols. Just as with that film,
Mud often unfolds at quite a leisurely, sedate pace with Nichols taking his time to lovingly gaze at the film's surroundings. In general that would most likely be an issue for me but in Nichols' hands he is able to turn it into a captivating, almost hypnotic experience. The most impressive aspect of
Mud I felt was just how wonderfully Nichols was able evoke a particular sense of place. Events unfold in a small town in Arkansas, and there really is no mistaking the setting for anywhere else other than the Deep South of America. The two young actors, including Arkansas native Lofland, and the dialogue in Nichols' script ensure that the film has such an authentic flavour to it. Nichols is also able to capture the tone of such an area, or at least how I've always imagined it. With its swamps, dense forests and vast rivers there is something beautiful but also haunting about it; a mythical vibe but tinged with a darkness. Coincidentally it's a similar vibe currently being exploited by Matthew McConaughey's TV show, True Detective. So the film evokes a particular place but the same certainly cannot be said however of it evoking a particular time. Aside from the modern cars that populate the town this is a world and a story that feels pretty much timeless. Remove the cars from proceedings and this really could be taking place at any point during the last 100 years. In a rare instance these days there's also not a single mobile phone in sight, with the two boys communicating in that most old-school of ways - walkie talkies.
Between the direction of Nichols and Adam Stone's beautiful cinematography the film really is just gorgeous to look at. Stone brings a terrific crispness and clarity to the images as he really revels in the beauty of the surroundings, delivering a series of lush greens and earthy browns as he builds up this wonderful sense of nature. The film is set almost exclusively during the day with Stone utilizing natural light predominantly for proceedings. The sun is shining just about constantly across the film's running time but Stone shoots it in such a way that it always feels like a hazy sunshine, which certainly for me at least evokes memories of childhood. I'm probably remembering it wrong (hell I grew up in Scotland so I'm definitely remembering it incorrectly!
) but in my mind every tale and adventure I embarked upon as a child was set to sunshine, largely during those summers away from school that felt as if they were never-ending.
Conclusion - While it may not have had quite the powerful impact upon first viewing that
Take Shelter did for me, this is still one terrifically crafted film from Jeff Nichols. And when taken in conjunction with
Take Shelter this film confirms Nichols as one of the most interesting directors plying his trade today, and marks him out as someone who could potentially be very special. The film is supremely well-acted, features a series of deep and complex characters and looks quite gorgeous. Its pace may be rather quiet and slumbersome for some (though it does explode into action at the end) but for me
Mud is an extremely rich film. While it may not have floored me like
Take Shelter did off the bat, I could certainly see this one growing on me.
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