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Director Jeff Nichols' (Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter ) third movie, set in his home state of Arkansas, filmed on the Mississippi River, is a coming of age story inspired by Huck and Tom Sawyer.

Fourteen year old Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and his best friend Neckbone (Jacob Lofland) ride down the river and discover a boat in a tree on a remote island -- the boat having been relocated to the high branches during a storm.

The boys soon realize that someone is living in that boat, and then find him: a rough, mysterious man-on-the run named Mud (Matthew McConaughey). He’s philosophical and charismatic, and tells tales of the mean men looking for him, and how he may have done some bad things, but it was for love -- love of a woman named Juniper (Reese Witherspoon) -- who he’s sure is making her way towards him.

While Mud’s troubles draw Ellis and Neckbone in with flourishes of romance and idealism, the troubles also reverberate with the boys’ personal struggles at home and with love. There’s mounting tension with Ellis and his parents (Sarah Paulson and Ray McKinnon), an unsteady home life with Neckbone and his uncle (Michael Shannon), and May Pearl (Bonnie Sturdivant), the girl at school who Ellis has fallen for, takes The Devil is a Woman down to the wonder years.

The fact that the cryptic (possible) assassin next door ( Sam Shepard) may or may not be Mud's father further fuels the allure of the adventure, and Ellis and Neckbone agree to help their fugitive: bring him food, and track down and reunite him with Juniper.

When Juniper first appears on screen, she’s at the Piggly Wiggly, in platform shoes and hot pants, has a bruised eye, and wheels her cart into the potato chip isle (there are also lots of cans of Beanie Weenies in this movie, by the way). Juniper may very well be the dime-store angel with the heart of gold that Mud fabricates, or she may just be yet another succubus out for herself in this poverty-ringed river town where the men struggle painfully to be tough, and the women, more often than not, are mean at the bone and can’t be trusted. (A misogynistic stain runs deep through Mud, which can be unsettling.)

Once Juniper shows up, a fleet of bad guys and bounty hunters descend on the town. There’s violence and guns and dingy hotel rooms. It’s now the dimly lit, stained-carpet underworld vs. the paradise island with the tree-boat, and inevitably the boys get caught between the two. And yes, McConaughy takes his shirt off. And the shirt is more than just any old shirt. In Mud, it’s his lucky shirt, one that gives Mud his powers (of a sort), and once the shirt is removed, things change.

While the pacing can be slow, and things get very noisy in wrapping the story up, Mud does have a fair amount of charm. McConaughy seems more at home on the darker side of the tracks than the sanitized settings of his other films. It will be nice to see him go even further into the darkness in future movies. And he should bring Sam Shepard with him.

Mud (2013)

“Mud” is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned).

Written and directed by Jeff Nichols; director of photography, Adam Stone; edited by Julie Monroe; music by David Wingo; production design by Richard A. Wright; costumes by Kari Perkins; produced by Sarah Green, Aaron Ryder and Lisa Maria Falcone; released by Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions. Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes.

WITH: Matthew McConaughey (Mud), Tye Sheridan (Ellis), Sam Shepard (Tom Blankenship), Reese Witherspoon (Juniper), Sarah Paulson (Mary Lee), Ray McKinnon (Senior), Michael Shannon (Galen), Paul Sparks (Carver), Joe Don Baker (King), Bonnie Sturdivant (May Pearl) and Jacob Lofland (Neckbone).