With his third feature, writer-director Jeff Nichols, announces himself as one of the great American directors of his generation delivering a heartfelt and evocative coming-of-age drama about love and loss. Set in the backwater estuaries of Arkansas, Mud is the story of two adolescent friends - Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) - and their relationship with the titular Mud, a drifter and fugitive washed in on the bayou tide. Discovering a kindred spirit they agree to help this stranger in need and reunite him with his girlfriend.

Mud, much like the eponymous character, is wrapped up in the shaggy-dog mythology of the Mississippi. It’s a Southern fable rich in character and texture - a story born from the…

Instead of talking about the story and script of Mud (barring some minor issues, it's damn good), or the acting (The Matthew McConaughey renaissance proves to be one of the best comebacks of recent memory), I'd like to focus on the thing that I found made Mud so very special: Texture

What do I mean when I say "texture"? Well, you ever watch a movie, and you feel it? Almost like you're actually in it? That's what I call "texture". The more you can feel a movie, the more authentic it feels, and the more authentic it feels, the better invested you are in it.

Authenticity is important. Even if we're watching a Science Fiction film, as long as the…

Jeff Nichols’ Mud is a beautiful coming of age film. Not only is it beautiful but also, compelling, thrilling, heartily emotional and a well-rounded film.

Nichols takes ample time, to sculpt each character in the film making them well fleshed out. This provided for an incredibly rewarding watch with a tremendous sense of feeling and affinity to the characters. No one in this film seemed like an additional baggage or being shoe horned into the story to take it forward. Everyone has a part to play, an important part at that too. Never did the 2 hour long film seemed overdrawn. It took its time sinking in every speckle of beauty in the beautiful southern setting of the Arkansas backwaters,…

This river brings a lot of trash down it. Some of its worth a lot of money, some of its not. You gotta know what's worth keepin' and what's worth lettin' go.

Ahhhh sweet Southern sentimentalism.

Why can't a trashy Michael Shannon be my uncle? You're cool and all, Uncle Roger, but you never took us Mississippi River scuba diving....

Mud plays upon those kinds of old glinty eyed childhood daydreams of living in the wilderness, and sailing up the mighty Mississippi with your best friend in tow. I'm inclined to say that this IS the modern Huckleberry Finn. And I'd even say that that director Jeff Nichols is on track to being one of the greatest American directors working…

I re-watched Mud tonight to see if it could live up to my previous viewing. Much like The Place Beyond the Pines, it does add up but it actually improved. TPBTP had one of the greatest acts of the century but faltered after its first 40 minutes. Jeff Nichols’s Mud, however, doesn’t ever really falter at all – consistently great cinema.

What my re-watch showed me, was that it gets the little things right to amplify the big picture of it all. From Mud telling Neckbone that he’ll teach him something his daddy never did (which segways to a small side story of Neckbone being raised by his uncle) to Mud’s animalistic traits such as leaving his mark on the…

Somebody, I forget who (just google it) described Mud as a perfect summer reading book, except it was never a book. It absolutely nails the look, feel and spirit of a very, very specific genre. A coming of age story mixed with pure adventure, all painted thinly over very real pain and harsh truths. If it had been a book, it almost certainly would have ended up on a summer reading list, and probably would have been the one required piece of literature you'd remember years later.

It's about a pair of boys who live on houseboats, occasionally working with a parent to earn some money, and going to school, but mostly slipping away at every opportunity to chart the…