Mud

Film (2012)

With Matthew McConaughey (Mud), Tye Sheridan (Ellis), Jacob Lofland (Neckbone), Reese Witherspoon (Juniper), Sarah Paulson (Mary Lee), Ray McKinnon (Senior), Sam Shepard (Tom Blankenship)

In light of the recent bombings at the Boston Marathon, carried out by two young men whose appearance was indistinguishable from many in the gathered crowd but whose outlooks and intentions were vastly different, the question of how decisively different appearance and substance may be has been brought into stark relief.

In a very different context and in a different way, Mud also explores appearance and substance with regard to character, peeling back grungy surfaces to uncover what lies beneath.

Two boys from a waterfront community in Southern Arkansas, Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland), in the course of exploring a deserted island, encounter Mud (Matthew McConaughy), who, for reasons initially unknown to them, is leading an isolated existence there. The boys, drawn to Mud’s challenges, and to his qualities of character, seek to help him out in a variety of ways.

Life at home for Ellis – in a broken down houseboat with his parents – is not so peaceful. His parents are at one another’s throats and Ellis seeks love for himself, and for others, as a kind of compensation. Mud’s attenuated romance with Juniper, a pure love from Ellis’ point of view, very different from the beset togetherness of his own parents, becomes a motivating cause for Ellis to go to bat for Mud.

As the story of Mud’s life emerges, the challenges of friendship, and of survival, become more dramatic.

The main characters of this film are rough hewn. They live provisionally in one way or another, managing in cramped and decrepit, barely floating, quarters. Sheer survival is no mean feat for Ellis and his family; he and his father sell fish door to door from their boat. Emotions are taut and rough, relationships strained by the stresses of an existence close to sinking.

One of the great accomplishments of this film is its capacity to present initially terrifying views of people and relationships which get modeled, developed and made more subtle as the narrative evolves. A great pleasure of this beautifully written and directed film is observing its capacity to gracefully penetrate beyond the horrifying exteriors and open up dimensions of character that emerge from within.

At the outset, watching Ellis’ parents sitting at a table, ferociously not communicating, provides an unsettling overture. One wonders whether Ellis’ father, who looks like a brutal hillbilly from central casting, will take an oar and beat his wife to a pulp.

Despite Matthew McConaughey’s innate capacity to radiate charm, Mud conveys danger through every tattoo, making us readily wonder what this kind of dark nut would do, in a moment of madness, with two fourteen year old boys on an isolated island in the Mississippi River.

But things are not so simple.

Matthew McConaughey deftly weaves an unsettlingly dangerous, and psychologically resilient, portrayal of Mud, forcing our attention to constantly shift between the threatening weft and reassuring warp of his character.

Reese Witherspoon (Juniper) is a genuine surprise, effectively shedding the cuteness that she so often carries in her roles to bring an honest toughness to a woman torn by love, and by the desire to escape from it. Her transformation here from pert to plagued peels away the sheen to reveal a character with edge, grit and pain.

Sam Shepard (Tom Blankenship), the great American playwright, occasionally shows up as a film actor and here delivers a quietly moving performance as a moral vigilante whose surface is clear but whose character is full of tattoos.

Tye Sheridan gives Ellis an earnestness and nobility that is striking for a young actor. One reads the challenges of nascent maturity in his gaze, which is so fervent and penetrating that one almost sees within it the petals of internal flowering spring forth.

The direction is top notch. Each character is drawn so vividly and realistically that there is barely a false note in the entire set of performances. Evolving a large and complex castle out of what initially seems like a few hearts scratched into the sand, the narrative exhibits the multiple frustrations and occasional successes of love, true to its landscape, toughly heartfelt, brackish not mawkish.

– BADMan