Mud is a film that I think should have gotten more attention than it did. It’s essentially a fable located on the Arkansas River. Two 14 year olds have discovered a boat in a tree — deposited on an island by a hurricane — and when they go to explore it, discover it’s being lived in by a man named Mud, played wonderfully by Matthew McConaughey.
Mud and the boys befriend each other, help each other, grow and learn some lessons of the adult world from each other. Mud has a girlfriend whom he worships — undeservedly so — and he’s killed a man because of her. He wants to fix up the boat so he can use it for an escape from the killed man’s relatives who are closing in on him. The families of the boys get enmeshed in the story. It’s a rural tale of decent folks with remarkable tenderness and freedom. At 14, in the waterland where they live, the boys drive boats and motorcycles, help sell fish and dig oysters. The ending is a bit over-fairy taleish, but the movie is well worth your time.