Mud (2013) - Review

Mud (mud) n.  3. Informal  The most degrading place or situation:  To drag one into the mud.  Also: -- (one's) name is mud:  (One) is defeated or in disgrace.

Well, that's clever:  Naming your film and protagonist with a simple word that perfectly represents the state of the character and the emotional world he is struggling in.  Coupled with a story set in a swampy (see: muddy) river town within rural Arkansas, and the writer just may deserve a slow clap.    

Mud (the film), follows the youthful curiosity of two 14yr. olds, Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and pal Neckbone (Jacob Lofland), as they explore inlets and islands along the river running through their town.  On an isolated atoll, the boys make a strange discovery when they find a medium sized boat ensnared high overhead in the clutches of a tree.  Despite scattered footprints and evidence of a recent human occupant inside the vessel, the teens have clear hopes to capitalize on their new found tree house.  But upon returning to their own skiff parked on the shore, the boys encounter the owner of said footprints obstructing their path.

Meet Mud (the character).  Matthew McConaughey is Mud.  And Mud is in a whole heap of it.  Decorated with tattered clothes, forbidding tattoos, and an eye catching chipped front tooth, Mud is an intimidating but curious presence.  To the most amateur of detectives he has obviously been on the lam for some time.  The boys speak with the gruff loner and come to an unfortunate realization that both parties are more than desirous of the marooned boat.  Ellis and Neckbone reluctantly make a pact with Mud and agree to bring him food supplies while he awaits his "friend," but only if they take ownership of the tree house upon his reunion and subsequent departure.

Over the next several days, the boys and Ellis in particular, grow very intrigued with the outsider.  With only chores and divorcing parents to keep him occupied, Ellis focuses most of his energy on assisting Mud.  He reveals more of his checkered past as the friendship grows between the two.  The boys' initial trepidation appears justified when Mud admits to being a fugitive from both the police and a group of lawless bounty hunters who are quickly closing in on him.  Mud's girlfriend Juniper (Reese Witherspoon) appears in town and only adds to the confusion of circumstances as she could be both the cause and/or potential solution to Mud's immediate and long term problems.  As the final third of the film plays out, promises are broken, betrayals occur about as often as the characters speak to each other, and the world closes in on Mud, which allows for his true nature to be ultimately revealed.

Make no mistake, young filmmaker Jeff Nichols delivers a very solid film.  It's especially surprising that this is only his second full length feature.  Like a seasoned veteran director, he is comfortable letting both scenes and story simmer to a boil without trying to sprint to the highest level on the intensity meter.  Nichols has a deft understanding of genre and exudes confident patience in this neo-noir thriller.  Never giving the audience more information than necessary, the result is a film saturated with suspense and the viewer is left suspicious of almost every character appearing on screen.

Nichols' best directorial skill though may be eliciting superb performances from his actors.  McConaughey deserves a lot of credit for stepping out of his romantic comedy comfort zone and taking on a darker leading role.  He is surprisingly magnetic as the mysterious wanderer, and delivers a carefully calculated and restrained performance.  His southern drawl fits the backwoods character perfectly, but it's his ability to project a bottled up thunderstorm of emotion that is truly impressive.  McConaughey reminds viewers that given the right circumstances (script, director, etc.) he is capable of much more than the usual fluff he participates in.  I'd be interested to see if he decides to choose more films and characters of this ilk, because Mud is evidence of a larger potential he may yet be able to fulfill.

Despite the deserved accolades McConaughey has been receiving for his role in the film, the real success and focus of the film is Sheridan's portrayal of Ellis.  Mud also thrives as a coming of age story with the young 14 year old driving the film in a state of accelerated maturity amidst the turmoil of his life.  It's rare to see a child actor so ably assume the majority of screen time, while still performing with such a wide emotional spectrum.  Dealing with difficult but common life circumstances such as impending parental divorce and first love/heartbreak, Ellis shines as a character worthy of the audience's empathy.  Sheridan displays feelings of trust, shame, disappointment, and youthful fury as the viewer might picture their own childhood reactions to similar situations.

Ellis is also far and away the most redeemable character in Mud.  Despite his teenage status within an adult world, he is the one with the highest moral and ethical standards.  Upon seeing women being physically assaulted by male characters on multiple occasions, Ellis rushes to their aid in chivalrous fashion with little regard for his own well being.  It is also clear that the definitive reason Ellis agrees to help Mud on his quest, is due to his belief that Mud's motives are ruled simply by his love for Juniper.  This is a significant parallel to Ellis' own life journey.  With family life fracturing around him and a lack of social acceptance from his peers, Ellis is a relentless romantic searching for his own love in heart wrenching fashion.

Even with all of the film's triumphs though, Mud still falls short of becoming an instant classic.
After the exquisite slow-like-fire building of the characters and story, the decisive third act fails to deliver an equally rewarding payoff.  The closing action scenes do not have enough time devoted to them, and because they end so abruptly the finale feels anti-climactic.  Similarly, the reason McConaughey's performance isn't award deserving correlates with a lack of dramatic culmination.  Mud remains tempered and calm throughout despite the wonderful set up leading the audience to believe he may be a true anti-hero.  His charisma on screen has a great deal to do with the secrets he's hiding but the audience only learns about what Mud is capable of through backstory and suggestion.

Sadly though, all the work McConaughey put into building this potential explosive character goes for naught.  The audience never witnesses the fiery cathartic outburst, the regretful snap judgment, or the dramatic purging of his inner demons.  It's unfortunate that both Mud and Mud didn't have appropriate counter weights of intensity to balance the foundation of mystery and suspense, because Nichols narrowly missed making a truly great film.

Trance (2013) - Review

Before I get rolling I need to ask a rhetorical, "Where is the love?" I guess winning a Best Picture Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire, and acting as Artistic Director for the critically AND publicly acclaimed (no small feat) 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies, aren't strong enough credentials to warrant ample promotional coverage for Danny Boyle's most recent film.  What does a filmmaker have to do to get a trailer aired on television anyway?

But I digress.  Maybe it's for the best that Trance wasn't given the full studio marketing treatment.  With a film as cerebral and layered in its storytelling, mass appeal may not be the immediate result upon its screening.

At first, Trance may excite some loyal Boyle fans as the film appears to refer back to the dark tone, creative visual style, and fast pace utilized in his early works.  The audience is immediately reminded of Trainspotting and Ewan McGregor's iconic portrayal of heroin addict Renton, as Simon (James McAvoy) opens the film with a similarly narrated monologue.  He describes the intricate protocol of his role as an employee during high priced fine art auctioneering, and more specifically, the security measures he must take to defend against a potential theft or heist.  And much like Renton, the viewer learns that the seemingly likable Simon is no innocent bystander within his environment.  The stage is then set for the inevitable smuggling of a multi-million dollar painting.

Problems arise when Simon is knocked unconscious during the robbery and subsequently suffers from clinically diagnosed amnesia.  Franck (Vincent Cassel) and Simon's other accomplices don't take kindly to the convenient forgetfulness and come up with some inventive ways of retrieving the whereabouts of the painting.  After extracting most of Simon's fingernails, the crew finally settles on hypnotherapy to be conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) as the best method to reveal the shrouded memory.  Unfortunately for all parties involved, it is not as simple as a quick question and answer session to determine the painting's location.  Each character's circumstances spiral negatively out of control amidst Dr. Lamb's motives, and Simon's guarded and fractured mind.

As with most Boyle films, the visual creativity and aesthetic are top notch.  The use of color to reflect character themes is delicately orchestrated.  Reflections, superimposed images, and fragmented composition work well as visual motifs for Simon's deteriorating mental state.  Eccentric character behavior offer numerous instances of foreshadowing for the meticulous viewer.   Boyle utilizes these techniques with ease, and ultimately crafts a tightly wound, fast paced work that challenges the viewer's ability to balance between plot truth and surreality.

Unfortunately, the film is more than just technical achievement and has some significant weaknesses.  One of the hardest things to accept is the main concept of the film.  I found it difficult to swallow the simplicity of character hypnosis and their subsequent manipulation throughout the story.  Apparently Dr. Lamb's voice is the physical manifestation of the effects produced by Ambien and a Pink Floyd laser show.  She speaks, and in seconds characters are completely mesmerized and vulnerable.  But this is cinema and not real life.  Perhaps most viewers can (and should?) suspend their disbelief regarding this plot convention.

The real problem deals with the intertwining story threads and timelines.  Trance has been frequently compared to a less grandiose Inception and for justifiable reasons.  The audience is similarly traveling deeper and deeper into a complex strata of character subconsciousness.  With each respective hypnosis that Simon is guided under, another layer of his psyche is peeled back for the audience to decipher.  Past vs. present, and real vs. imagined events become increasingly clouded.  During the exciting and more action oriented final third of the film, the viewer may be more inclined to enjoy the ride rather than struggling with understanding the outcome.

Even when not at his best, Danny Boyle is still as strong a cinematic craftsman as they come.  He is technically gifted and is more than proficient in equally handling character development, suspense, and action.  However, it is how he handles the clarity (or lack thereof) of multiple perspectives and mental planes which is problematic.  Similar to being in a dream, you can "see" the basic form of the story, but frustratingly just out of arm's reach you can't grab a hold of it.  I doubt Trance is the film that Boyle wants to define his career, but it's still better than most of the work his colleagues are putting out.

Evil Dead (2013) - Review (contains spoilers!!!)

All the hardcore Raimi-ists out there who are eager to bash this film because it doesn't hold a candle to the original, or because it shouldn't have even been tampered with in the first place, please just relax.  While I may agree with you, I know for a fact that the original The Evil Dead will remain a classic of cult proportions.  Its reputation will remain untarnished.  This modern reboot is exactly that, which is a fresh take on an old idea, so it is meant to be different no matter how sacrilegious you think it may be.  And let's not forget, both Sam AND Bruce Campbell had producer/supervisor roles on the 2013 version.

That being said, I'm surprised Raimi and Campbell didn't try to exert more of their creative influence upon first time feature director Fede Alvarez.  While the film never pretends to be anything other than a bare bones linear horror film, outside of the the visual and makeup effects Evil Dead just doesn't achieve much else in terms of production ingenuity, scare tactics, or overall storytelling.  Don't expect to find ANY of the off-beat humor found throughout the original franchise.  When compared to most other horror flicks, much less the ground breaking original, the film simply maintains the status quo.

The cinematic setting remains roughly the same as the 1981 version, when five twenty somethings meet to stay at a cabin in the woods completely isolated from civilization.  Always a good idea.  The most original idea of the movie (which is saying something) concerns why the characters have assembled in the first place, as the group has convened in order to help their friend Mia kick her long standing drug addiction.  No one can leave and thereby give up on Mia, despite the warning signs of blood stained floors and a basement filled with sacrificed cats (perhaps a heavy handed way of highlighting what happens when a feline is just too curious?).  Soon after the group settles in the cabin for the foreseeable future, they unintentionally release an evil spirit that sets out to swiftly destroy each of them after possessing our unlucky ex-drug user.  But no matter what occurs, the friends must keep Mia in the house to make sure she overcomes... ahem, her inner demons.  The point is driven home repeatedly and annoyingly, which as you can probably guess, allows for all manner of ridiculous happenings before the group realizes something is out of the ordinary.

The blame for the failings of Evil Dead has to fall squarely on the shoulders of director and co-writer Alvarez.  Outside of the strong tortured performance of Jane Levy in the role of Mia, the other actors limp along begging to be put out of their misery.  Flat and emotionless, the friends sharing an apparent collective IQ of about 12, walk around this death trap of a house wondering out loud about what has befallen them.  Hint:  your girlfriend might be possessed if she suddenly begins to carve off her face with a shard of broken mirror, then begins to pursue you like a starving zombie, and repeatedly stabs you in the face and chest with whatever sharpened objects she can get her hands on.  What is incredible is that there is absolutely no sense of extreme fear, hysteria, or terror amongst the clique.  In fact, most of these people seem downright clear-headed as their friends are maimed and dying off at the hands of the controlling wraith.

Given, not everyone goes to the movies (especially a horror film) for top filmmaking quality, or to "feel" something.  Some cinephiles just want to see their films filled with action, blood, and gore, which is where this film is surely triumphant.  There are truly creative visual effects with fantastic prosthetic and makeup work, and I applaud the choice to forego the utilization of CGI.  Dismemberment, blood purging, stabbings, and slashings, amongst many other gruesome injuries are all pulled off with wild success.  It just isn't enough to carry the film.

The film moves at a brisk pace from character setup, to demon summoning, and right on through the subsequent death toll.  While this acceleration of development thankfully keeps the runtime at a tolerable level, it's also too quick and constant to evoke any real emotional response.  The audience is never able to connect or empathize with the thinly written characters, and the lack of tempo change eliminates any potential thrills.  Without the occasional slow climb, the viewer never gets the dramatic roller coaster drop.  I was always ready and expecting the next inevitable brutalization.  At the predictable conclusion of the film when our hero prevails, in albeit glorious chainsaw induced blood splatter, the scene should have been the type of cinematic moment that would illicit an ovation from the theater audience.  Instead, one could feel a collective sigh of relief knowing the credits were seconds away.

Evil Dead is nothing but a mildly entertaining festival of gore, but unfortunately the beauty (gore) here is merely the polish barely hiding the inadequate surface underneath.  Without any other element (humor, suspense, compassion, logic, etc.) to help offset and benefit the horror tale, it's difficult to rally behind cringeworthy death after death after death..