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In the hallway after the screening of "Mud," people were quoting their favorite lines from the movie, a newly minted American classic, so I'll quote one of my favorites here:"I don't traffic in the truth too often, but I did love her."Standing alone in its own paragraph, the line will have lost its original flavor, but it's a heartbreaker coming out of Matthew McConaughey's mouth. He plays a charismatic drifter named Mud in Jeff Nichols's third feature, which traffics unerringly in truth, delicious surprise, unadorned beauty and unforced wisdom.Mud's charisma lies in the wide eyes of his beholders, a couple of 14-year-olds who come upon him hiding out from the law and other pursuers on a little island in the Mississippi River; his literal hideout is an abandoned boat n <a href=http://www.coach-onlinestoreoutlet.com/>Coach Outlet Online</a> estled high in the branches of a tree, where it was deposited by a flood. The movie belongs to the teenage buddies as much as to the title character, and echoes of Mark Twain are neither accidental nor incidental. This coming-of-age story focuses mainly on Ellis (Tye Sheridan), who, like his best friend Neckbone (Jacob Lofland), lives on the banks of an Arkansas tributary, in a community of makeshift houseboats. Others may view Mud as nothing more than a scruffy murderer on the run, but the ki <a href=http://www.coach-onlinestoreoutlet.com/>Coach Outlet Store</a> ds see him, at least for a while, as a romantic renegade living out a violent adventure in the service of undying love.He's a marvelous figure, the product of flawless writing��봫ore about that later��봯lus a brilliant performance that's no less subtle for being theatrical. Mr. McConaughey is a past master of sparkly narcissism. That's part of what pulls the boys into their hero's wobbly orbit from the very first moment they see him up close, squinting in the summer sun with a cigarette in his teeth. But this portrayal, the best work of the actor's career, goes far beyond picturesque poses. The man really is a romantic, richly nourished by self-delusion, and Mr. McConaughey, with his musical voice and commanding physique, sustains a delicate balance between Mud's poetic yearning for his girlfriend, Juniper��봲he's played to slatternly perfection by Reese Witherspoon��봞nd his <a href=http://www.coach-onlinestoreoutlet.com/>Coach Outlet</a> surviv <a href=http://chaussures-christian-louboutin.weebly.com>Chaussures Louboutin</a> al instinct, which prompts him to enlist his naive acolytes as accomplices to his escape.The Southern-gothic extravagance of this guy is worthy of Tennessee Williams, but Mr. Nichols, an Arkansan born and bred, has made a film of striking originality. The same could be said about his 2007 debut feature, "Shotgun Stories," which also took place in Arkansas, and his 2011 "Take Shelter," which was set in rural Ohio. Both of those films turned on formidable performances by the same superb actor, Michael Shannon (who has a small but significant role in "Mud"). Both explored difficult subjects��봟lood feud and revenge in the former, apocalyptic visions in the latter��봶ith clarity and meticulous craftsmanship. But their taciturn tone was more admirable than welcoming, while "Mud" invites us in with open arms and treats us to a terrific tale zestfully told. (And beautifully photographed, by Adam Stone.) More on 'Mud' How Jeff Nichols Got Personal in His New Film, 'Mud' Before and after everything else, it's a tale of love. Ellis is a lover-in-training, hormones pounding and cortex vibrating with confusion. Epic love is what he feels, though lesser mortals might call it puppy love, for a high-school girl who gives him brief but befuddling encouragement. Love is what his parents have fallen out of. "You can't trust love," his father tells him. "If you're not careful it'll up and run out on you." Because he needs to believe in love, Ellis sees Mud and Juniper for the true lovers Mud claims them to be, rather than the half-cracked fantasist and unprincipled slut they are. "Why are you helping us?" Juniper asks Ellis, who has become their faithful go-between. "Because," the boy replies with sweet simplicity, "you love each other."The movie itself is easy to love, almost every frame of it, although I wish we could see exactly how Mud and his ardent acolytes get the boat out of the tree. But that omission is likable, at the very least, since it's probably a result of the production's limited budget, which is not in evidence anywhere else. "Mud" stands as a model of what an independent feature can be, starting with the homely grabber of a title, which would never have made it out of a studio's focus group.As a director, Mr. Nichols has a rare gift for shaping, or allowing, naturalistic performances that seem entirely spontaneous. The veteran actor, writer and director Sam Shepard has never been more mesmerizing than he is in the role of Tom Blankenship, a houseboat dweller who may or may not, as Mud contends, have gone to Yale and worked for the CIA. Tye Sheridan, as Ellis, is too young to be a veteran of any kind; his only prior screen experience was as the youngest son in Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life." At first I wasn't sure about his performance, which can be vocally inexpressive from time to time. But that's fine, he's an honest presence, and his manifest honesty makes Ellis all the more endearing. The boy is by turns guileless, shrewd, sentimental, screw-loose aggressive and constantly checking out his surroundings for clues to how the adult world lives, loves and lies. (He doesn't have the movie's last word, but he has its last, telling glance.)Motion pictures rich in character and language are often adapted from literary sources, but Mr. Nichols's screenplay is original in the fullest sense of the word. It's full of great phrases��봎ud describes an evil rival as "the triple-six real-deal Scratch"��봞s well as great lines: "We knew to be afrai <a href=http://www.longchamp-handbag.com/>Longchamp Outlet</a> d of snakes long before we ever got into this world," Mud says, with an emphasis on the word "this" that bespeaks his private vision of another sphere. In three features over the course of six years, Mr. Nichols has offered a vision of American life that is regional, though never provincial. But "Mud" suggests that there's nowhere he can't go. It's a movie that holds out hope for the movies' future.'At Any Price' Enlarge ImageClose