Mud (Jeff Nichols) [73.5 points / 7 votes]
"Matthew McConaughey’s Mud may be the title character of Jeff Nichols’ wonderful Southern drama, but the movie isn’t really about him. It’s a coming-of-age story about 14-year-old Ellis (Tye Sheridan), whose relationship with Mud is just one of the ways he learns about the harsh realities of adult responsibility. Even when the camera moves away from Ellis’ direct experience, Nichols filters the movie through his perspective, as Ellis holds onto his romantic notions of love even while betrayal and violence blossom around him. Discovering the mysterious Mud alone on an island is at first a great adventure for Ellis and deadpan best buddy Neckbone (Jacob Lofland), and even when the two boys get themselves more deeply involved in Mud’s very serious troubles, Ellis keeps his wide-eyed appreciation of the situation.
Sheridan and Lofland anchor the movie in a believable friendship of two teenage boys, balanced between the kind of good-natured putdowns that can mask insecurity about masculinity (the first exchange between the two: “What the shit?” “Suck it.”) and a genuine, heartfelt love. They’re right at the age when the bond between male friends starts to become less important than potential bonds with members of the opposite sex, and while Neckbone has a coldly pragmatic view of that prospect, speaking matter-of-factly about his uncle’s “doin’ it music” and inquiring about the quality of the breasts on Ellis’ object of affection, Ellis is an unabashed romantic. He views the doomed love story between the volatile Mud and his equally unstable girlfriend Juniper (Reese Witherspoon) as a grand romance to be emulated and encouraged, no matter what the consequences.
It’s not hard to see why Ellis and, to a lesser degree, Neckbone, would be drawn in by the devious Mud, thanks to McConaughey’s mesmerizing performance. The actor’s charm is the character’s charm, and McConaughey channels all the shirtless rogues he played in forgettable romantic comedies in his portrayal of the ultimate shirtless romantic rogue. While those past rom-com characters might have been ultimately harmless, Mud is genuinely menacing, and it’s McConaughey’s ability to combine likability with danger that makes the character so compelling.
With an ace supporting cast that includes Sarah Paulson, Ray McKinnon, Sam Shepard, Michael Shannon and Joe Don Baker, Nichols creates a multilayered portrait of a specific Southern locale, from the ramshackle houseboats on the river to the nondescript strip malls and apartment buildings in town to the lush (and sometimes dangerous) wilderness that surrounds all of it. Nichols gives every character, even the most minor, an internal life and an emotional honesty, so that even when bad men put Ellis and Neckbone in danger, we can understand the pain that drives them to do so.
More than its belated thriller elements, Mud is about the way that men relate to women, and the way that those relationships can cause as much collateral damage as any gun battle. Although some have viewed the movie’s point of view as misogynistic, Nichols isn’t blaming or condemning women for the tragedies that unfold in his story. The fault lies with men who, like Ellis, are unable to see women as anything more than objects to be obtained or protected, who put women on unrealistic pedestals and then get angry when they dare to act like real, flawed human beings. Mud is full of real, flawed human beings, and Ellis might just be the most flawed of them all." -- Josh Bell
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