Film Assessment: Mud (2012) | The Ace Black Film Weblog


Style: Coming Of Age Drama  

Director: Jeff Nichols  

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Sam Shepard, Reese Witherspoon, Michael Shannon, Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson, Joe Don Baker  

Working Time: 130 minutes  

Synopsis: In rural Arkansas, fourteen year-old buddies Ellis and Neckbone (Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland) bump into Mud (Matthew McConaughey) on an remoted island within the Mississippi River. Ellis is intrigued by the stranger’s story of a lifelong love for sweetheart Juniper (Reese Witherspoon), and begins bringing provides to Mud and passing messages to Juniper. Ellis additionally experiences his first crush, get to know his mysterious neighbour Tom (Sam Shepard), and involves phrases with the painful separation of his dad and mom (Ray McKinnon and Sarah Paulson). However Mud is a needed fugitive, and his presence might unleash violence.

What Works Nicely: This coming-of-age drama combines lyricism with exhausting edges and hard truths. Director and author Jeff Nichols finds a ramshackle part of river sustaining an easier lifestyle, and populates it with characters harboring secrets and techniques. Throughout the stoic backwater isolation, Ellis’ life is profoundly altering: his dad and mom are splitting, the one residence he is aware of is likely to be dismantled, and he might have discovered a primary girlfriend. However the revelations swirling round Mud are most potent, involving a deep love, simple lies, suspicions of homicide producing a need for violent revenge, and finally plans for an audacious escape. Because the disruptions attain a climax, childhood is discarded and maturity solid.

What Does Not Work As Nicely: Ten minutes might have been trimmed from the working size with out dramatic loss, and Michael Shannon as Neckbone’s river-diving uncle seems to be a personality thought seeking a objective.

Key Quote:

Mud (about Juniper): She is sort of a dream you do not need to get up from.

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