Mud

When Mud first shows up onscreen (played by a swaggering and disheveled Matthew McConaughey), he is looking decidedly non-Hollywood, with his scraggly beard and unwashed tangly hair. 

What follows might be a modern-day Huck Finn with a little more seediness and dysfunction thrown in (it was certainly influenced by the Mark Twain classic).  14-year-old Ellis is making his own first awkward steps into the adult world of relationships, is the product of a disintegrating marriage, and wants very much to believe in the all-consuming power of love.  Enter Mud, a fugitive they meet on a secluded island, with his wild tale of a passion-induced crime.

Everything is complicated in Mud; everything has two or more sides to it.  The moment you try to place any of these characters inside the standard lines someone else comes along with an entirely different view of them and we're left with a Picassoesque view of a character that seems to shift every time we refocus our eyes.

Is Mud a rough around the edges drifter with a heart of gold as Ellis believes?  Is he a charismatic manipulator who is ultimately selfish as his intermittent girlfriend played by Reese Witherspoon tells us?  Or is he a fool in love, who had the misfortune to choose the object of his desires unwisely, per the account of old friend and father figure played by Sam Shepherds?

The camera work is fluid and sharp, and makes the Arkansas world of strip malls, church billboards, houseboats and motels seem romantic and mysterious.  This is clearly a labor of love for writer and director Jeff Nichols, who grew up in the area.  It is reported to be the largest production ever filmed in the state, though by Hollywood standards it is more or less a small indie film.

This is either a film about loss of innocence, or about preserving idealism even in the face of the disappointments of the world, all dealt with in a touching way that is only somewhat undercut by the too conventional whiz bang ending.  Subplots and digressions abound, making this film as rambling as the river it takes place on, but then, that's part of the charm.

Grade:  A-