Following on from Jeff Nichols' prior films Shotgun Stories and Take Shelter, Mud is an altogether gentler slab of prime Americana, a coming-of-age drama about two teenagers who chance upon an enigmatic stranger on a small island on the Mississippi River. Acting as a go-between between him and community life on the mainland, the pair in turn come to learn lessons about the realities of growing up. Evoking both Huckleberry Finn and Stand By Me, it may prove a little too conventional for fans of Nichols' previous work, but as a well-crafted Boys' Own adventure it's a cut above the mainstream. (JB)