Mud (2012)

This intense drama of two 14 year old boys and an adult fugitive on a Mississippi River island in Arkansas will not leave you cold. As the fugitive named Mud, Matthew McConaughey plays a lowlife, not as low as in The Paperboy, but lower than in Magic Mike, this time with a giant snake tattoo and his lip curled to reveal a chipped-tooth prosthesis. Young Tye Sheridan (the younger brother in The Tree of Life) is the true protagonist of the story, a romantic who believes in love. As his friend Neckbone (no explanation is given for the name) Jacob Lofland makes his acting debut. All three are outstanding, with support from Reese Witherspoon (profiled in Water for Elephants), Sam Shepard (last in Darling Companion) with a buzz cut, Sarah Paulson (covered in Martha Marcy May Marlene), Ray McKinnon (summarized in Take Shelter), and Michael Shannon (most recently in Premium Rush) in the strangest diving helmet ever.

This is the third feature (Take Shelter was the second) for director/writer Jeff Nichols, and he continues in his assured, quirky way. David Wingo, with help from Jeff's brother Ben Nichols, once again composes the fine music (here's an interesting article, and you can stream clips from the amazon page).

Some audience members clapped after yesterday's matinee, in agreement with Jack and me and most critics--it averages 98% critics and 87 audiences on rottentomatoes. Here's one spoiler-free review I particularly like.

You should see this, unless you, like Judy, have a morbid fear of that which she can only spell: S-N-A-K-E-S.