Mud
Now playing at International Village
Every once in a while audiences need a reminder that Matthew McConaughey can do more than take his shirt off (you heard me, Magic Mike fans). Jeff Nichols' Mud announces it loud and clear.
Nichols, who last gave us the excellent Take Shelter, draws on his Arkansas upbringing to impart the story of Neckbone and Ellis, a modern-day Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer who stumble on a mystery at a pivotal time in their lives.
Ellis (Tree of Life's Tye Sheridan) is facing a crisis. With Dad's fishing business barely making ends meet, Mom wants to leave their houseboat and move into town.
("I ain't no townie: I ain't living like that," Ellis protests.) As soon as they vacate, the River Authority is poised to break up the dwelling, board by board, meaning that both Ellis's family and his way of life are splintering apart.
For his part, Neckbone (first-timer Jacob Lofland) is living hardscrabble in a trailer with his well-meaning, womanizing uncle Galen (Nichols' favourite Michael Shannon).
With things so miserable at home, cynical Neckbone and hopeful romantic Ellis welcome an adventure 'round the bend. They take a boat out to a "deserted" island, where they find a boat in a tree. A storm put it there, apparently, but it's not as empty as it looks. They also find a man hiding out, waiting for his girl.
The man is Mud (McConaughey) and the girl - "like a dream you don't want to wake up from" - is Juniper (Reese Witherspoon), Mud's childhood sweetheart and the reason he's in the trouble he's in.
Mud is a noble criminal, the only adult being honest with the boys, as far as they can tell. Ellis, in particular, clings to Mud and June's love story as he does a raft: his own parents' marriage is falling apart ("You can't trust love, Ellis," Dad says), and he is falling in love himself for the first time. A happy ending is the only bearable outcome.
As Mud enlists the boys' help ferrying supplies and messages to Juniper's shabby hotel room, shiny cars with Texas plates begin to arrive in town, spelling bad news for all involved. Ellis finally has a reason to meet Tom Blankenship (Sam Shepard), his neighbour across the river, a man who shares a history with Mud.
There's almost no soundtrack, just the sound of the flowing river. It's deceptively calm, the story deceivingly simple: there's actually a lot going on, once you factor in the love story/thriller, Ellis's coming-of-age story and Nichols' elegy to a dying way of life.
The director keeps everything rooted in reality, avoiding cliche and cloying sentimentality where Mud is concerned. So what if Mud has no food but seems to have more than enough cigarettes? McConaughey's fine performance makes us forgive such niggling details. Supporting cast members such as Ray McKinnon, Sarah Paulson and Joe Don Baker also impress. And the boys are so genuine, they seem to have been born on the bayou.
Mud is a lovely little lesson on how the cure - whether it's a snakebite antidote or a long-lost love - is sometimes more dangerous than the poison. And how we risk it nonetheless.
