Mud

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2m9IFlz2iYo

It's hard to get excited about some films. Especially films that are named Mud. I don't know why I hate the title so much but I just do; it just gives connotations of dirt and grimness. Mud happens to be the name of Matthew Mcconaughey's [a name I definitely didn't need to google to spell there] character in the film which makes a little more sense but is still stupid. Who actually calls their kid Mud?  It's silly.

When I see a little a little 'Cannes Film Festival Award' on a poster as well it does put me off a bit. I assume it'll be overly arty and I 'should' be enjoying it but I don't understand why I'm not. Shouldn't judge a book by it's cover though, or in this case film by it's poster and title. Did it turn out to be a surprise hit?

Sadly not. I never got fully engrossed by Mud and as much as the story was interesting enough it did all seem a bit dreary. I always knew it wouldn't be an explosion packed thrill ride but I at least expected to form some kind of attachment to the characters.

I did enjoy parts of Mud. The story of two boys coming across this mystery man in the middle of nowhere who had a lot of secrets and history kept my attention. I really wanted to find out more about Mud and what he'd done to be hiding away from society and it just gets more intriguing when his face starts to appear on wanted posters.

Matthew Mcconaughey acts fantastically as well and it's just a shame that who Mud turns out to be isn't that interesting. He plays a sort of hobo-Sawyer from Lost character and other than the occasional burst of anger or change of heart he doesn't have any particular stand out scenes. It's a shame really because I thought he had a lot of potential, especially after you're first introduced to him.

Length is always an issue with me [should probably re-word that but nah] and at 2 hours 10 I felt the film was far too long. Entire characters and scenes could have been taken out I feel and the film would feel exactly the same, just mercifully shorter.

Maybe it's not just for me though. It has won awards and critics seem to really like it. Getting back to my earlier point of the film winning an award at the Cannes film festival however [possibly Sundance now i think of it], I felt like Mud was a good film but I just really didn't understand why. As a result I found it all a bit boring.

5/10



Main Blog:
http://www.elephantchris.blogspot.co.uk/