Take Shelter
2011
****
Director: Jeff Nichols
Cast: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Katy Mixon, Shea Whigham, Kathy Baker, Ray McKinnon, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Tova Stewart, Stuart Greer
An Ohio blue collar worker experiences disturbing dreams and waking visions, and is determined to prepare his family and the backyard tornado shelter for the impending storm. Does he have second sight or is he paranoid schizophrenic like his mother? In the wrong hands (M. Night Shyamalan, anyone?) the film could have been a series of cheap scares which all make beautiful sense in the end. Jeff Nichols' approach is thankfully more ambiguous and interesting. His apocalyptic family drama is carefully paced and it sustains a terrifically foreboding atmosphere all the way through to its unsettling conclusion. Michael Shannon's performance as a man with a fragile mental state is believable and intense, as always.
