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    Mud

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

    Not only does "Mud" feature some excellent performances but it also perfectly captures that point in a boy's life when child-like things need to be left behind while the young mind's perception of love and relationships starts to take shape. The film also delivers some terrific thrilling and heartwarming moments. The characters feel at once like they're taken straight from a fairy tale and like real people. Everyone has their own secrets, quirks and flaws and the astounding performances help make them feel completely genuine. Watching the film feels like a documentary about your own youth, recalling that summer when you were just turning into a teenager and getting interested in girls or boys, starting to feel like you needed to prove something to yourself and to the world and deciding that you wanted your life to be extraordinary by embarking on an adventure you would never forget. The story is often funny because of the nutty characters that are presented here. They're that right mix of kind of pathetic, proud and sad at the same time so one scene you'll be laughing at the uncle who uses a makeshift diving helmet to fish for clams and the next you'll be admiring his ingenuity and thinking to yourself that he reminds you of someone from your own past. The main story will consistently keep you on your toes. When the two main characters ("Ellis" and "Neckbone") meet "Mud" you don't know quite what to make of him. Is he a harmless vagrant? A dangerous psychopath on the run? A drifter that's full of wisdom? Even as you get to know him more and more you still never really feel like you can trust him, particularly as more of his past is explored. On the one hand, you want the two boys to leave him alone and never look back, but on the other the character is so enigmatic that you can't wait to see more of him. While the characters bond and we get to see "Ellis" really grow as his world takes a dramatic change. You get this feeling of imminent doom when we learn the true reason for "Mud's" exile and the excitement and thrills just keep building. You never know where the movie is going to end up so every scene you're mesmerized by the story while in the back of your head you expect everything to end up in a total disaster. One of the most powerful parts of the film is the theme of relationships and love as seen and interpreted by "Ellis". You see the kid's heart get broken repeatedly and you see him grasping at straws to make sense of everything that's going on around him. You basically know that it's a pointless effort on his part but you're still praying for it all to work out because you remember being exactly like him, wanting to get together with girls because, well you don't really know at the time, wanting to uncover the mysteries of sex, even if you have no idea what sex really is and wanting to know ultimately where you will end up when you're as old as your own parents. It grips you as tightly as the thriller elements in the film and plays out beautifully, leaving you very satisfied. There are so many things going on in "Mud" that it's doubtful you would be able to catch all of them on a first viewing but it works so well you won't mind. In fact you'll look forward to seeing the film again just to be able to focus on a different element of the film, be it another character, a different tone or some of the technical elements like the cinematography. This may seem premature considering this review is being written in May, but this is very likely to end up on your "best of the year" list. It's also Matthew McConaughey's strongest performance to date (and in recent years he has really been delivering) "Mud" is more than just a solid "coming-of-age" story, it's a great drama, a touching story of friendship, a thriller and a tragedy you won't easily forget. (Theatrical version on the big screen, May 22, 2013)

    10
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    adamwatchesmovies@  9.7.2013 age: 26-35 2,866 reviews

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