Mud

Rarely has a film taken me to the brink of perfection so deep into its second act, only to almost entirely self-destruct in the final twenty minutes. I had extremely high hopes for Mud, this backwoods mystery/character study, from the very first time its trailer recommended it to me as the best American film at Cannes, and its director, coming off a high wave of critical acclaim from his last film, had clearly been riding shotgun with his muse. Armed with a bigger cast, a bigger story, a bigger running time, it should have been a slam dunk, but alas, the bigger they are the harder they truly fall, as the film ultimately proves just how American it is by degenerating into a flurry of contrived plot machinations that sacrifices its own redemption for the quick and easy redemption of its main character. 

A few years ago director Jeff Nichols astounded audiences with Take Shelter, a quiet, uncompromising tale of a man quickly slipping away from reality. Played by Michael Shannon, Curtis LaForche is a construction worker who one day begins to have apocalyptic visions forecasting the end of the world, and he is not certain whether they are real, or symptoms of schizophrenia, the disease which claimed his mother many years ago. I bring this film up for two reasons; one, as a plea to those who haven't seen it, if you take anything away from this review, please remedy that as soon as possible, and two, as a point of comparison to where Nichols is as a filmmaker a mere two years later. Mud, his third film as writer/director, revolves around a similarly quixotic central figure, though one who clearly knows who and what he is, part of the mystery for the audience to unravel for sure, but also necessitating a different narrator. Enter the children.

Mud follows Ellis, an Arkansas boy living with his parents, who are on the brink of divorce, in a nearly-condemned houseboat on the river. One day he journeys across open water to a small island with his friend Neckbone, where they find a boat mysteriously trapped overhead in tree. As boys would, they lay claim to this boat, but living inside is a man who calls himself Mud, on the run from the law and a gang of thugs out for blood. Mud enlists their help to communicate with an estranged girlfriend back in town, and to bring him food and assist with getting the boat in working condition, so he can escape. Ellis agrees to help, out of a sense of adventure at first, but soon, as the events of his own life begin to inform his relationship with Mud, it becomes a deeply personal commitment.

I am not kidding when I say the entirety of the first two acts of this film is flawless, both in terms of the performances and the execution of its complex, multi-layered storyline. Nichols is a first-rate director, who coaxes phenomenal performances out of his actors. Tye Sheridan's pitch perfect turn as Ellis, I'm not afraid to proclaim, will probably dog his entire career as its peak. Matthew McConaughey, continuing in the footsteps of his unbelievable 2012 career renaissance, effortlessly embodies the titular character both in the concrete and abstract, an old soul rooted to the ashes from whence he came, the dirt from the Earth clinging to his skin like a badge of honor, drenched in sweat, as much from the hot Arkansas sun, as from the pursuit of his dreams, a girl he would do anything for. Take Shelter's Michael Shannon even makes an appearance, and the most out of his brief turn as Ellis's friend Neckbone's uncle. Nichols deftly weaves his characters, especially Ellis, into one of the most beautiful coming-of-age mysteries ever put on screen, drawing just the right moments from the boy's home, social, and extracurricular life, to successfully build Mud towards a satisfying, much-deserved, emotional and diegetic resolution. Unfortunately that's the exact moment the film comes apart at the seams.

Somewhere during the latter part of Mud's second act, the emotional story begins to out-pace the narrative, and at the moment it reaches its apex, about an hour and forty minutes in, something happens which sets in motion a chain of events that put the film on autopilot, and a  regression to the most hoary of plot contrivances, which in any other film would be mildly disturbing, but which here, in light of all the work that was done to get to this point, is tantamount to a complete betrayal of the audience's trust. If you've seen the film, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Perhaps you didn't mind it; I found it to be the worst thing Nichols could have possibly done. The last half hour of this film is in complete and total bad faith, and weakening the foundation of a film that begins as strong as this one, for me, brings everything crashing down. 

There are occasional hints of the film's undoing throughout its second hour.  There is Ellis's repeated visits, without incident, to a hotel room that was quite explicitly acknowledged as being heavily monitored by bad guys.  More troubling is how the clearly established POV of Ellis is broken to show the bloodthirsty gang plotting its next move. Watching it, I didn't understand this stylistic decision; I noticed it immediately, and upon reflection it added absolutely nothing to the story, except to develop the characters of people who ultimately would just add more plot to an already convoluted third act.  The only reason I can see for this, is for the film to satisfy the demands of having a much wider release than Take Shelter. Mainstream audiences want to see action, guns drawn and blazing, and it is with great sadness that Mud succumbs to this desire. If it could ever be said that the amount of restraint in the beginning of a film is proportional to the number of bullets fired at the conclusion, to that I say Mud delivers in spades.

I hear that Nichols's next project will re-unite him with Michael Shannon as the lead, in his first film for a major motion picture studio. I urge him with all my heart to follow the lead he developed with Take Shelter, to not be content with the mediocrity on display here in Mud, to follow the story wherever it needs to go, and not where the audience, and a double-digit-million-dollar-box-office-gross, want to take it.

** 1/2 out of *****