The
term “coming of age” is normally associated with
an irreparable feeling of loss of innocence. In
Jeff Nichol's Mud, however, the loss of
innocence is not about surrendering to cynicism
and disillusionment but about a broader
understanding that the world is a mixture of
light and dark, and that often circumstances are
complex and do not automatically explain
themselves. If Mud is a coming of age tale, it
is one for both children and adults, both
learning that letting go is not a sign of
weakness. Set in rural Arkansas on the
Mississippi River, the film does not use
location as a backdrop but is defined by its
surroundings, as surely as is Mark Twain's
Huckleberry Finn.
Permeated by the steamy, oppressive atmosphere
of the Delta, under the guidance of
Cinematographer Adam Stone and composer David
Wingo it becomes so real that you can feel the
sweat on your brow. Though Mud has a suggestion
of mythic poetry in the tradition of Terence
Malick, it is not a Malick-type impressionist
painting but a far grittier experience with
violence and threats of violence grounding it in
more conventional territory. In the film,
14-year-old Ellis (Ty Sheridan) and his best
friend “Neckbone” (Jacob Lofland) are not
teenagers with average big city problems. They
have no computers, iphones, or tablets.
Ellis lives in a ramshackle houseboat, distanced
from his parents (Ray McKinnon and Sara Paulson)
who talk about separation and divorce while
Neckbone is being raised by his uncle Galen
(Michael Shannon), an oyster diver. Later Ellis
finds out that his mom, who owns the houseboat,
wants to sell it and move to the city, and he
rebels at the idea of being a “townie.” As the
film opens, the boys, out for adventure,
discover a boat on a nearby Mississippi island.
Like a vision of Noah's Ark, the boat has been
moored on a tree after a flood. To their
surprise, they also discover that someone is
living there. He is a drifter who calls himself
“Mud” (Matthew McConaughey) and who tells the
boys that he is on the island waiting for
Juniper (Reese Witherspoon), his love ever since
their childhood together.
There is an overtone of danger with Mud's
unkempt appearance and his stories about walking
around with nails on his shoes shaped like a
cross “to ward off evil spirits,” and snakes
tattooed on his wrists. Though the danger is
there, Mud also has a redneck charm that the
boys take to. Hungry for something or someone to
believe in, they help him to stay alive by
bringing him food and assist him by delivering
notes to Juniper in town. Though there is a wide
disparity in age, Ellis and Mud, are strangely
alike. Told by his father that "You can't trust
love, if you're not careful, it'll up and run
out on you," Ellis desperately wants to believe
in it and both he and Mud need each other to
keep their dreams alive.
Ellis has a good heart and a sense of decency,
and helps Mud because he believes that “it is
the right thing to do,” though we find out a
little later that he shot and killed a man who
was abusing his girlfriend and is on the run
from the police and the father of the man he
killed. Ellis, unaware that he is harboring a
fugitive, sees his sense of self-worth
compromised by having to steal a motor from a
boat to help Mud, an emotion he does not
hesitate to let the older man know about in one
of the film's most moving scenes. McConaughey's
performance stands out for his ability to draw
sympathy even though we know what he has done
and what he is capable of.
Supported by his old friend, Tom (Sam Shepard),
said to be a former CIA hitman, Mud makes plans
to escape as the plot moves inexorably to a
point of resolution but it is one that might
have been better left to the imagination. Mud is
remarkable for its combination of reality and
lyricism and the dialogue has a feeling for
natural rhythms without a sense of the
conversation being “movie talk.” Though it has
its contrivances and head-scratching moments,
these do not detract from the film's overall
emotional resonance. The film is marked by
outstanding performances by both newcomer Jacob
Lofland, and Tye Sheridan, whose formidable
screen presence and ability to convey emotions
are real enough to ensnare even the most
reluctant viewer.
Mud lets us know that coming of age does not
have to mean a loss of the things that make
being young so precious: a view of the world as
being a loving place where being friends forever
is a reasonable expectation, where the idealism
that progress is linear and that the world is a
process of becoming, and where the dreams of
being an adult encompasses being a person of
strength that can give and receive love. There's
a part of the river where it expands into open
space ahead where the horizon seems stretched to
infinity, a space that has not yet been mapped.
For Ellis and Mud, the world still remains
uncharted. When they reach that place, you reach
it together with them.
