Sunday, May 26, 2013

MUD




PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Tye Sheridan: 14-year-old Ellis
Jacob Lofland: his friend Neckbone
Matthew McConaughey: Mud
Ray McKinnon: Ellis’ father Senior
Sarah Paulson: Ellis’ mother Mary Lee
Reese Witherspoon: Mud’s girlfriend Juniper
Paul Sparks: Carver, the victim’s brother
Joe Don Baker: King, the victim’s father
Sam Shepard: Mud’s old buddy Tom

REVIEW
Characterized by terrific performances by Sheidan, McConaughey in particular, this engaging tale of one man on the run is also a coming-of-age of his new found “partners”. Production values are high and the cinemaphotography beautifully captures the sense of the time and place.

Character development is unhurried but it’s a tad long at a little over two hours. Several underdeveloped subplots could have easily been eliminated with no loss to the story line. But why quibble when the overall experience is such a good one?

CLASSIFICATION
for some violence, sexual references, language, thematic elements and smoking.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
  • While talking to the two boys on the beach the length of Mud’s cigarette remains unchanged until the last shot when in an instance it is down to practically nothing.
  • Mud grabs his shirt from the bush and throws it over his shoulder but when he stops running he’s wearing the shirt all buttoned up.
  • Mud says anyone bitten by a cottonwood snake has at most one hour to live: in fact there is no one rule about survival as numerous factors come into play including the area of the body bitten, the age and health of the person etc.
  • Applying a tourniquet to the bitten limb is not recommended: there is no convincing evidence that this is an effective first aid method and can be dangerous as it reduces or even cuts off circulation which can lead to gangrene which can be fatal.
  • Ellis calls Juniper and after a brief conversation she hangs up and we hear is the dial tone: in fact, when a call is terminated the line simply goes dead, we hear nothing. The dial tone is only heard before dialling.
  • Mud pulls off an impossible dismount from a moving motorcycle while holding someone in his arms without dropping the person or even stumbling

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