“Landman” isn’t exactly a naturalistic show. The Paramount+ series is full of the kind of melodrama that made Taylor Sheridan’s other hit series, “Yellowstone” and its various spin-offs, so successful. What makes this latest offering from the Sheridan-verse so compelling, however, is that even while the events often border on absurdity, the characters feel real. No more is that true than with Lofland’s Cooper Norris, the enterprising son of Billy Bob Thornton’s oil fixer Tommy Norris.
Mud is an overlooked modern classic
By 2009’s “Ghosts of Girlfriends Past,” Matthew McConaughey seemed doomed to be remembered as the handsome guy who made terrible rom-coms. But after 2011’s “The Lincoln Lawyer,” things started to turn around, with the veteran star delivering multiple standout performances. Things hit a peak in 2014, when he starred opposite Woody Harrelson in the enduringly brilliant “True Detective” season 1 and won the Best Actor Oscar for playing Ron Woodroof in 2013 drama “Dallas Buyers Club” — a film which also cemented Jared Leto as a serious star who continues to work to this day despite (as “Tron: Ares” proved) being box office poison.
An unforgettable turn in Christopher Nolan’s best movie, the emotional masterpiece “Interstellar,” solidified the McConaissance as a genuine phenomenon. But there are several works belonging to that celebrated period in the actor’s filmography that aren’t quite as well remembered. “Mud” is a perfect example. This was a movie that had critics raving about McConaughey delivering “the best performance of his career,” but which failed to make the impact of “Dallas Buyers Club” or Nolan’s space epic. That’s a shame, because it lives up to the hype.
“Mud” is an American Neorealist drama, which means it isn’t escapist fantasy. Like the movie that gave McConaughey his breakout role, “Dazed and Confused,” “Mud” is interested in the social reality of modern-day America. Rather than suburban ennui, however, “Mud” is focused on the experiences of the working class and fraught family dynamics. It’s a film about manhood, what it means, and the importance of father figures in the lives of young men learning how to exist in the world. It’s a powerful film, and one that characterizes the very essence of what makes Jacob Lofland’s “Landman” performance so excellent.
Jacob Lofland’s first film performance foreshadowed his Landman role
“Mud” is directed by Jeff Nichols (who later pitched the world’s most depressing Aquaman movie to Warner Bros.) and is easily one of Matthew McConaughey’s best films. It follows Ellis (Tye Sheridan) and Neckbone (Jacob Lofland), two teenage boys from DeWitt, Arkansas, who stumble upon an abandoned boat on a small island. They soon discover that the boat belongs to Matthew McConaughey’s Mud, a fugitive who’s trying to escape from his pursuers via the boat, but first needs his girlfriend, Juniper (Reese Witherspoon), to meet him. The film follows Ellis and Neckbone as they try to help Mud reunite with his love and escape, all while Ellis deals with the impending divorce of his parents and his first crush.
“Mud” wasn’t the only single-syllable film of the early 2010s to feature an established star playing mentor to a young Tye Sheridan in the American South. Strangely enough, “Joe” debuted in 2013 and starred Nicolas Cage as a grizzled old Texan who becomes a guardian to Sheridan’s wayward youngster, Gary. That film was similarly lauded by critics, who praised Cage for his understated performance. But even “Joe” couldn’t top “Mud,” which currently bears a 97% critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.
What’s more, “Joe” doesn’t feature Jacob Lofland in his breakout performance. “Landman” is a strangely full-circle moment for the actor, who infuses his portrayal of Cooper Norris with all the gritty realism that made “Mud” so darn good. Cooper feels like the most heartfelt, most believable character in Taylor Sheridan’s oil drama, and it can’t be entirely by accident that Lofland also got his start in a movie that characterizes the best of the American Neorealist genre.
