98% Mud

All Critics (104) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (102) | Rotten (2)

Nichols has a strong feeling for the tactility of natural elements-water, wood, terrain, weather.

Nichols takes his time with the story, dwelling on how the boy is shaped by the killer's tragic sense of romance, yet the suspense holds.

"Mud" isn't just a movie. It's the firm confirmation of a career.

"Mud" unfolds at its own pace, revealing its story in slivers. The performances are outstanding, especially from Sheridan, who plays tough, sweet, vulnerable and confused with equal conviction.

The film is drenched in the humidity and salty air of a Delta summer, often recalling the musical, aphoristic cadences of Sam Shepard, who happens to appear in a supporting role.

A wonderful, piquant modern-day variation on "Huckleberry Finn.''

Mud clearly sets out from frame one to run along well-worn tracks - it's like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn meets Whistle down the Wind.

By setting the action within a quasi-mythic framework Nichols is able to draw us into his big adventure and help us to rediscover the whispers of youth.

A stirring ode to innocence that evokes classics like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Stand By Me.

Mud has some interesting things to say about southern manhood, and is observant about the struggle between head and heart, even if it is less forthcoming on how you get a boat out of a tree.

A bold, intelligent, 21st century take on Mark Twain - with added occult tendencies.

Mud is a potent and earnest rumination on love and change that gets muddled by moments of overblown as well as scattered storytelling.

The setting, characters and situations in "Mud" are fully formed and fully satisfying.

A modern-day Huck Finn adventure pulled along in the mesmerizing current of a crime yarn and anchored to a teenager's heartbreaking quest for emotional moorings.

Like great directors before him -- Hitchcock, Polanski, Altman, et al. -- Nichols uses duality with real skill and impact.

Poignant coming-of-age tale has some edgy content.

This is no Southern Gothic pastiche but a convincing portrait of a South rarely seen onscreen, the South of Walmarts and water moccasins, of Piggy-Wiggly and punk rock.

I liked Mud. What's frustrating is feeling as if I could have loved it.

It's a lovely, coherent piece of storytelling, with a unique sense of place. Nichols has carved out a niche as a distinctive film-maker.

With Mud, Jeff Nichols demonstrates once again that he's that rare breed of filmmaker who prefers to bury himself in the dirt of rural America rather than carve his initials into the concrete of sprawling urbanity.

Nichols weaves it all together with consummate skill and a little black pepper.

It's rare that films manage to capture the actual experience of what it is like to be a child, but 'Mud' seems to nail the ethos.

Mud is a captivating drama with well-rounded characters and fantastic performances from its three leads.

...a respectful, storyteller's approach to rural America. No mockery, no Hollywood-knows-better, no nonsense. That kind of thing is in shorter supply than the universe's collective desire for McConaughey to return to rom-coms.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/mud_2012/

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