Dinesh Kamath’s column on movie ‘Mud’ under the title ‘New movie-releases in Navi Mumbai’ that was published in Newsband

New movie-release in Navi Mumbai

By Dinesh Kamath

Mud

Mud is a 2012 American coming-of-age film written and directed by Jeff Nichols. The film stars Matthew McConaughey, Tye Sheridan, Jacob Lofland, and Reese Witherspoon.

Mud is a fugitive who becomes friends with Arkansas teenagers Ellis and Neckbone. The fugitive attempts to reunite with his love Juniper, and the teenagers help him evade the authorities.

McConaughey portrays “Mud”, a man living on an isolated Arkansas river island, where two boys find him staying inside an abandoned boat. The boys are Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland), two young men whose families live off the river, selling bait, fish or other aquatic discoveries. Mud makes a deal with the boys, promising to give them his handgun if they will help him gather the parts he needs to fix the boat. The boys also agree to help locate Mud's long lost love Juniper (Reese Witherspoon), who is staying in a nearby motel, hoping to meet up with him later.

Neckbone lives with his uncle Galen (Michael Shannon), who makes a living drudging the river looking for clams and other valuable items. Ellis lives on a houseboat with his mother (Sarah Paulson) and father (Ray McKinnon), who are having marital troubles. Ellis (only 14 years old) also falls in love with Mae Pearl (Bonnie Sturdivant), a beautiful senior in the local high school. Mae Pearl agrees to a date with Ellis after he punches a senior boy while defending her honor.

When the boys meet up with Juniper, they discover that Mud is on the run for killing a man while defending her honor. They also discover that the dead man's father (Joe Don Baker) and brother (Paul Sparks) have hired bounty hunters to track Mud down and kill him. The boys keep Mud's location a secret while passing messages between him and Juniper. The boys also learn that Mud has an old friend named Tom Blankenship living across the river from Ellis. Tom was once a government sniper, and warns the boys to stay away.

As the boat repairs near completion, Ellis finds out that his mother plans to leave his dad, things aren't going to work out with Mae Pearl, and that Juniper isn't that faithful to Mud. During one last visit to the island, Ellis falls into a pit of poisonous snakes, forcing Mud to risk his life to save the boy. After a wild ride to the local hospital where Ellis gets the anti-venom he needs, the bounty hunters track Mud down to the boy's home, where a big gun battle ensues. The climax is interesting.