The difficult events that Mad is going through continue in his life. The events begin in Arkansas, where 14-year-old Ellis lives in a floating house with his mother. Where Ellis and Nykabon have found a steamer stranded on the top of a tree on an island on the Mississippi River since the flood and plan to repair their boat. One day, they climb up the tree and find a new meal inside the boat, meaning that someone is living on their boat. They leave the place and meet a man called 'Mad' near their boat. But soon they learned that 'Mad' killed a man hit his girlfriend Juniper and now the father and brother of the deceased man chasing him.
Sadly, Nichols, who made the superb Take Shelter, gets mired in mood this time around. But there's still an evocative sense of childhood exploration, and a gritty performance by Matthew McConaughey.
Despite an almost sluggish pace, Nichols nevertheless finds the rhythm of Southern rural village life with its wary think-hard-before-you-speak watchfulness.
Mud has a stellar cast. Nichols knows they'll do the heavy lifting for him, and his nuanced direction and thoughtful visuals lets them do exactly that.