JEFF NICHOLS

Bil’s rating (out of 5):    BBBB. 

USA, 2012.  Lionsgate, Everest Entertainment, Brace Cove Productions, FilmNation Entertainment.  Screenplay by Jeff Nichols.  Cinematography by Adam Stone.  Produced by Lisa Maria Falcone, Sarah Green, Aaron Ryder.  Music by David Wingo.  Production Design by Richard A. Wright.  Costume Design by Kari Perkins.  Film Editing by Julie Monroe.

Ellis and Neckbone are two Arkansas boys who find a speedboat stuck high atop a tree in a remote marsh and decide to make it their own. When it turns out to already be inhabited by a charismatic drifter (Matthew McConaughey), they are immediately won over by his charm and become his little helpers. Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) is wary of this man and what is either a streak of madness or criminal behavior, but Ellis (Tye Sheridan) is won over by his tale of having returned to their town to save the woman he loves (Reese Witherspoon) from very bad men. Jeff Nichols follows up his marvelous Take Shelter with yet another absorbing, highly evocative drama whose richly sympathetic characters combine with superb acting and a thoroughly engrossing narrative for a more than satisfying experience. Between Sheridan’s exceptional performance as Ellis, presenting one of the best explorations of coming-of-age male adolescence since The 400 Blows, the humour that Lofland provides and the star presence of McConaughey (whose fame only helps us understand their obsession with him better) it is hard to decide what stands out best. Meanwhile, Sarah Paulson and Ray McKinnon provide terrific support as Sheridan’s parents, and the elements of “that memorable summer” plot combined with a heroic tale of good versus evil are combined to perfection without any of it coming off pat or familiar. Add to that a story of cultural displacement in the form of our young hero’s family being moved off their Mississippi River houseboat due to government interference (and Nichols should be commended for avoiding the shallow visual hyperbole of the overrated Beasts Of the Southern Wild) and you have a film whose many strands should make it a mess but it never is. Even the presence of Witherspoon, who can’t quite blend in with the surroundings the way her co-stars do, does no great harm to what is such a wonderful film.

Cannes Film Festival:  In Competition