Project 52: 'Mud'

Posted Friday, June 14, 2013 at 12:01 AM Central
Last updated Thursday, June 13, 2013 at 2:36 PM Central

by John Couture

I like Matthew McConaughey, but I wouldn't say that I'm a die-hard fan. He's good at what he does and that usually entails being goofy and taking his shirt off. So, imagine my surprise when I heard about this film and the first trailer sort of hinted that McConaughey might be able to handle meatier roles.

After watching the trailer, the film Stand By Me immediately popped into my head because well, it's sort of the quintessential coming of age story from my generation and there seemed to be more than a couple of story parallels between the two movies. I knew that it was a movie that I wanted to keep tabs on if the chance presented itself, I would try and see it while it played in theaters.

Well, the chance came in the form of our anniversary date this year. We don't always choose to see a movie when we go out, but with a toddler and one on the way, we don't get as many chances to get out to the show like we once did, so we tend to take advantage of the time when we can get it.

Mud is slowly going about its business and it should cross $20 million this week which is great for such a smaller, independent film. I would say that our theater was about 90% full and I imagine that it will continue to play strong as an alternative to the big, tent-pole films coming out in the next few weeks.

Mud

While Matthew McConaughey is the main course of this film, it's always best to start with the appetizer. For starters, the two leads of the film are played by newcomers Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland.

Tye Sheridan's Ellis is the central character in the film and for it to work at all, the actor playing Ellis has to be believable not only as a despondent teenager, but also as someone who grew up in the sticks, living on the river. I don't know about living on a river, but growing up in Elkhart, Texas (populate 1,275), Tye Sheridan knows a lot about small town life.

The best part is that you are able to see that on the big screen through his performance. He carries himself in such a way that you really do believe that he lived his entire life on a houseboat away from the "townies." If you want to continue the comparison, he's the Wil Wheaton of this film and like in Stand By Me, Tye delivers a career-defining performance.

Ellis is a not quite loner with a single friend in the world, his best friend Neckbone (played by Jacob Lofland). Not only does Jacob win for best character name of the year, but his performance is also on par with Tye's. Considering that these two share the screen for 90% of the film, it's important that their chemistry feel real and for Neckbone to be independent, yet still very connected to Ellis.

Both of these kids are strong individuals on their own merit, but it's pretty apparent that both would suffer greatly if the other wasn't in their life. We all have a Neckbone in our lives growing up and much like the movie, we don't appreciate him as much as we should. Now, the film doesn't explore that aspect of their friendship, but you can make the connection after the credits that the dynamic of their friendship has changed now that Ellis is a townie.

You see, this film truly is a coming of age story in which Ellis and Neckbone are in the throes of raging hormones, but still too young to be taken seriously by girls. Boys have an awkward stage from about 13 to 16 that few people write about. Before this stage, they are mostly into their friends and really don't notice the opposite sex. After this stage, girls finally start noticing them as young men. But for those few years in between, they are filled with hormones and desires and are really at a loss in terms of finding their place.

For Ellis, his passage through this delicate moment in his life is wrought with confusion. His parents are going through a divorce and his already distant father becomes even more so. For Ellis and Neckbone, this boat that they find on an island, up in a tree becomes the thing that will get them through this period.

Unfortunately, they aren't the only ones with big plans for the boat. Matthew McConaughey's Mud is a mysterious character who Ellis is immediately drawn to because of his great love affair with Juniper. All at once, he finds in Mud not only a father figure, but someone who has a healthy relationship.

As Ellis' own forays into a relationship has its ups and downs, he turns more and more to the mythical relationship that Mud and Juniper has and uses it for the basis of his fledgling relationship with May Pearl, played by complete newcomer Bonnie Sturdivant. Given his the dissolution of his parents love for one another, he becomes almost obsessed with bringing the two waylaid lovers together so that they can have their happily ever after.

I think the main reason that I love Mud so much is that instead of going the Hollywood route and giving Mud and Juniper (played by Reese Witherspoon by the way) their happily ever after, they take a more realistic approach. Sometimes the volatility of a relationship is too much for the participants to handle and this is the case with Mud and Juniper.

It's clear from the start that Mud's love for Juniper is borderline stalkerish at best, serial-killer in training at worst. It's also clear that while Juniper does love Mud, her feelings aren't quite up to par with his. A lot of that has to do with the life debt that Mud is carrying around. Since Juniper saved his life from the snake bite, Mud feels indebted to her and because of that, their love will never be pure.

Instead of trying to make that work, they opt instead for the less traveled, but far more satisfying option of having Mud complete his character arc and realize that he has to finally let go of Juniper so that they may both find their true loves elsewhere.

So, Mud isn't exactly the most uplifting film to serve as the date film for one's anniversary, but it sure was a good one.

That leaves the man himself Matthew McConaughey to finish up this review. No review of Mud is complete with spending countless words praising his performance in the film and I would be remiss if I didn't add a few of my own.

While the timing of Mud's release will hurt a bit, I still think that Matthew McConaughey should receive strong consideration for a Best Actor Oscar nomination. That's how remarkable his performance was in this film. And it's not just that he doesn't act goofy or take off his shirt (he actually does take it off for two short scenes), he actually conveys real emotion and creates a memorable big screen character that you actually develop a bond with.

There are a couple times in the movie where Mud's past catches up with him and amid the peril, you actually start rooting for him to survive. Sure, Mud might be a wanted man and a murderer, but he's an honorable murderer and all you want is to see him get his fair shake in life and McConaughey is able to convey that.

Ironically, I think his best scene in the entire film is one in which he doesn't say anything. He's in a field across from Reese Witherspoon's motel and they share a moment that transcends words. In that blink of an eye, the two occasional lovers say their goodbyes and make peace in the idea of their future in which neither of them are in each other's lives. It's a beautiful, heartbreaking scene that follows a complete selfless act by Mud to save Ellis' life much like Juniper did for Mud many years earlier.

This act and the subsequent resolution of events that transpire after it give hope to both Ellis and the audience that love might not always work out as we imagine it, but it always will work out. After every relationship in the film crashes and burns, we are left with hope as Ellis shares a moment with the girl in his new apartment complex and Mud sees the open water before him, as wide and inviting as his own Juniper-less future.

There's been plenty of gambling on the Mississippi River, but this one's a sure bet. It gets a Straight Flush.