While bigger pics like "Lawless," "On The Road," "Cosmopolis" and "Killing Them Softly" dominated the buzz when the Cannes Film Festival lineup was announced a couple of weeks back, one film that we're eagerly awaiting that's also playing In Competition is "Mud," the third feature film from Jeff Nichols.
After debuting with the excellent "Shotgun Stories" (seriously, track it down) and then delivering last year's unnerving psychological drama "Take Shelter," the director is back with bigger stars but no less ambitious a story. Starring Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Michael Shannon and "The Tree of Life" tyke Tye Sheridan, the film which has been described as a "fairy tale," follows the story of an unlikely friendship between a fugitive (McConaughey) and a 14-year-old boy (Sheridan) who helps him escape off an island in Mississippi, evade the law and bounty hunters, so he can reunite with his sweetheart Juniper (Witherspoon). It's a nice shift in gears for Nichols and can't wait to see what he brings to the table.
Lucero frontman Ben Nichols (yes, Jeff's brother) is tackling the score and while the film has no release date yet (or distributor), we're sure all of that will fall into place fast should "Mud" live up to expectations. [Kinopoisk]