After hearing about the raving reviews for this movie, and being a big fan of Mathew McConaughey, I decided to purchase the Blu-ray of the film Mud, sight unseen. I don’t do this very often, and it can be risky, the last time I did it, was for ‘The Book of Eli’. The film sat around the house for a couple of weeks before I finally set aside the time to watch it. My father-in-law had watched it and even though I told him I had not seen it yet, he continued to spoil the ending for me telling me how dumb it was, etc. This did not deter me, instead, it motivated me to see it. Now, on to the movie. If there is a style of filmmaking that I really enjoy, this is it. The director, Jeff Nichols, had not been on my radar, but now I have to say, I will be looking out for his films. This was a film about growing up, about childhood adventures, about living on the river, about life in general. It covers quite a bit of topic. It was told from the perspective of two young kids, possibly pre-teen, who live near the river somewhere in Mississippi. The boys were exploring their surroundings, and end up exploring a small island where there is a boat stuck way up in a tall tree. They explore the boat and discover someone is living inside of it. Not too long after that, on their way back off of the island, they meet that someone and he goes by the name ‘Mud’. The film peels off a layer at a time, slowly describing Muds character, through the friendship he builds with the two boys. They seem to find him fascinating and want to help him while learning about him. They start off by bringing him food. They find out he is wanted by the law, but they also find out, he is in love with a woman. They are intrigued by both stories. The part of Muds girlfriend was played by Reese Witherspoon. The boys were just at the age where they were starting to like girls, and she was certainly a beautiful, if not troubled character. There was a lot to this film, adventure, drama, landscape, and you found yourself being captured by it and wanted to see it through to the end. Highly recommended.
*****
