I saw Mud absolutely ages ago, and I've had bits of this review written and sitting in my drafts for so long that it's out on dvd now, whoops. For some reason I had a difficult time expressing my feelings about this movie; when I reopened this post I found a bunch of half finished sentences and partial paragraphs and ramblings about the setting and Ellis and the Mississippi River. I think I came back to it a few times and then just gave up. The thing is, I really liked this film, and the things I liked about it are hard to put into words. So much of what I liked has to do with the feeling of it all. There was just a certain quiet authenticity to the characters and the rural Arkansas setting and the way they interacted and shaped each other. It just felt so true to the midwest I've experienced, in all its faults and beauty, and I like--no, love--that. There's something so comforting and beautiful and free about the wide open spaces of middle America, and they really do have a particular feeling to them, and if you want to know what that feeling is, watch Mud. (Or Jeff Nichol's previous film, Take Shelter.)
Okay, now that I've got that out of the way, I want to talk about my other favorite thing about this movie, which are the two kids. In a nutshell, Mud is about these two kids who happen upon a fugitive named Mud, and decide to help him reunite with his girlfriend. First there's Ellis, the more strong-willed and passionate, and then there's Neckbone, who is, as the woman sitting next to me said many times throughout the film, the 'smart one.'
Ellis is an old soul, a staunch believer in True Love and doing the right thing. He yearns for the day when he'll fall in love, which he seems to think will render all his problems obsolete. He's a kid who will rush a man twice his size when he sees him hit a woman, and will risk everything to reunite a stranger with his true love because if he didn't, he'd be turning his back on love as a concept. He feels that by helping Mud reunite with Juniper, he's proving to himself that real love exists, and that someday he'll have it too. He also says things like, "I ain't no townie!" when faced with the prospect of moving away from his beloved houseboat on the Mississippi River, which is rad and only makes me love him more.
Neckbone, on the other hand, is less trusting and more wary of abstract concepts like True Love; he deals in logic, in things he can see and touch. He would just as soon not involve himself in Mud's problems--as a kid who's lost both his parents and lives with his well-meaning but clueless uncle, he knows how to take care of himself and figures others can do the same. He saves both Ellis and Mud on more than one occasion, proving they could benefit from taking their heads out of the clouds every once in a while.
But these kids, different as they are, need each other; Ellis needs Neckbone's grounding, his ability to look past his feelings and take care of the present, while Neckbone needs Ellis's wild abandon, his willingness to follow his heart no matter the consequences. I thought their relationship was completely perfect and really quite beautiful. And I can't help but have this weird crush on Ellis as a person, and if he was ten years older I think I would ask him to marry me.
That's all.
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