Mud

So I didn't yarn bomb anything this week. Maybe next year?

But I did go to see a movie! Yay! I miss movies.

I went to see the unlikely Matthew McConaughey (and Reese Witherspoon and Sam Shepard and Michael Shannon and Sarah Paulson) starring movie, Mud. (Great cast.)

And what a great little movie. It did so many storytelling things so well. It was tightly told and no little detail offered up didn't end up important in the end.

One of the main foreshadowing moments/details I saw coming a mile away. Two miles. But I actually think that might have been masterful too. Because it meant I was distracted by that detail and didn't see how the other small detail from the beginning was going to be relevant. And even the obvious foreshadowing detail (okay, it involves snakes) came into play at a moment when I wasn't expecting it, or at least, the instant I realized it was going to come into play it was perfect, because I was cringing and praying that I was wrong. Great moment of suspense and anticipation.

Mud is a quiet "kid-driven" movie that ends up exploding in tension and violence. In that way, it reminded me of Danny Boyle's Millions. But I as much as I love Danny Boyle, I think I liked Mud better.

And I need someone else to see it, because I can't decide who the protagonist was. The obvious answer is Mud, the McConaughey character, but I actually think the protagonist was Ellis, one of the boys.

And speaking of the boys, the two young teen actors in this film were astoundingly good. Amazing. And neither of the boys' characters were stereotypes, at all. And neither were their families. With the setting of people living on riverboats in Arkansas it would be so pat and easy to give the boys terrible parents, or make them all hicks, but all the parental figures, even the one boy's unconventional uncle, played by Michael Shannon, were interesting *and* good parents.

Plus, it was so awesome to see a 14-year-old boy character, Ellis, who was such a pure romantic at heart. Romantic on so many levels. And that's why I think it was Ellis's story. His realizing that the world maybe isn't as perfect as he thought, love isn't as pure as he thought, and the line between right and wrong isn't always as super clear as he thought.

But then as soon as I'm sure, I think that it's Mud's story, but told through Ellis's POV.

Still not positive.

Has anyone else seen this yet? Would love to discuss.