Mud

Word on the street is that this is a modern Huck Finn. Well, it is on a river and it does have a guy running from the law helped by a couple of young kids. But I think this is really a story about love. Or maybe an investigation of love. Ellis and Neckbone are the two local kids living on the Mississippi River. Ellis is our protagonist who lives with his parents ON the river, on a houseboat passed down from generation to generation. Mom and Dad are disagreeing about the direction of their lives and Ellis now looks to every relationship as a benchmark to determine what he can expect from his own life in the realm of love. He watches Neckbone and his uncle, Mud and his girlfriend, his parents, the old guy across the river, his popular girl girlfriend. He is always watching or asking about what makes relationships work or not work. So while the plot involving Mud was interesting, for me it was only a device to allow me watch Ellis inquire and grow in his understanding of human relationships. Very well done.
4 stars (out of 5)