There’s much to be said for wallowing in MUD, director Jeff Nichols’s leisurely yet captivating follow up to his 2011 drama TAKE SHELTER. This Southern Gothic spin on WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND is a gently absorbing tale of adolescence gone awry, and boasts a beautifully judged performance by Matthew McConaughey, currently on something of a roll. A clutch of strong supporting performances and a satisfying pay-off make this one of the most purely enjoyable films of the year so far.

Working from his own script, Nichols begins by introducing two teenage boys: the resourceful Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and the more stubborn Neckbone (Jacob Lofland), whose families live on the fringes of society, living a hand-to-mouth existence by the river. Both boys seek to escape the drudgery of life by exploring the Mississippi river, and in doing so discover a boat caught up in the branches of a tree on a nearby island. They claim it as their own, but their claim is quickly disputed by the mysterious Mud (McConaughey), a man who knows how to live off the river and seems to have the ability to appear and disappear at will. It emerges that he is on the run from the police, wanted for the murder of a man that beat up his one-time girlfriend Juniper (Reese Witherspoon). Mud aims to escape with Juniper, but needs the help of Ellis and Neckbone to do so.

Mud [is] a magnetic yet tragically flawed character, the sadness behind his twinkly eyes clear for all to see

On the surface this might appear to be a romance between heartbreaker Juniper and drifter Mud, a man whose unrequited love is doomed to end in misery. But the story is seen through the eyes of Ellis, and his attempts to understand the world as he stands on the cusp of adulthood. His parents’ marriage is on the rocks, and an unexpected opportunity to hook up with a local girl slightly older than himself runs far from smoothly. So Mud and Juniper’s predicament provides him with a purpose, a way to take control of life by helping someone else get it right. But his efforts have the effect of gradually revealing Mud’s long and sad history with Juniper, and it becomes clear that Ellis and Mud’s lives are mirror images: they are as determined but naive as each other; the drifter is a vision of the boy’s future should his life carry on unchanged.

In last year’s double whammy of MAGIC MIKE and KILLER JOE, and again in this year’s THE PAPERBOY, McConaughey put his delicious Southern drawl and enviably sculpted physique to use in thematically darker works than has been his want, subverting expectations and giving fresh impetus to his performances. He continues the winning streak here, with his Mud a magnetic yet tragically flawed character, the sadness behind his twinkly eyes clear for all to see. Reese Witherspoon hits just the right notes of both unattainable and undeserving love, while Tye Sheridan and Jacob Lofland are excellent as the two boys; Sheridan in particular is a standout, which is just as well because Ellis is the key to the entire piece and gets the most screen time. Nichols regular Michael Shannon pops up briefly as Neckbone’s ineffectual uncle.

Nichols occasionally hints at a more magical element to the story – is Mud more than he appears to be? – but never at the expense of the grounded, downbeat atmosphere, quietly evoked through a palette of greens and greys; the polar opposite approach to that taken by OTT potboiler (but no less enjoyable) STOKER, this year’s other slice of American gothic. It’s a little long and meandering perhaps, but a rewarding journey nonetheless.

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