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,…

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…

I will admit it: I was one of them. There was a time when each and every time a new Matthew McConaughey project was announced, I, along with half the male population, would roll my eyes. Because even after great performances in films like A Time To Kill and Frailty, they seemed to be too few and far between. McConaughey seemed intent on letting his talent remain hidden, as he would just linger around in rom-coms, which were the farthest things from challenging that you could get. After almost a decade of this off and on game, I was literally starting to give up on him. Until something strange started happening in the last few years or so. With roles…