Take Shelter is a fever dream of a thriller. It plunges you into anxiety and hope, victory and defeat. With humanity in trouble, sensitive everyman Curtis LaForche (brilliantly played by Michael Shannon) is plagued by hallucinations and nightmares.
Director Jeff Nichols lets you decide what this film is about. In an age of uncertainty, Curtis’ dark night of the soul feels universal.
Suspenseful and exciting from start to finish, Take Shelter portends the end. Depending on how you see, it will sweep you away with dread or faith. References to “the economy” and “fresh motor oil” lend timely foreboding.
A construction foreman in northern Ohio, tormented Curtis hides his condition from his wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain). He seeks help from a doctor and a counselor, trying to quash his visions.
Shannon (Revolutionary Road; Bug) surrenders onscreen. Gangly, enigmatic and tortured, he remains a loving husband and devoted father to a hearing impaired child Hannah (Tova Stewart, sweetly perceptive).
Curtis wants to save his family at any cost. After visiting his mother (Kathy Baker), who’s institutionalized with paranoid schizophrenia, the quiet man understands that his curse is a gift.
March in step, Curtis’ best friend Dewart (Shea Whigham) and his brother Kyle (Ray McKinnon) tell him. Instead, he secures a home improvement loan to build an elaborate storm shelter. Curtis risks everything – home, family, and the health insurance needed for Hannah’s cochlear implant surgery.
Samantha (Jessica Chastain) takes refuge in family, friends and community. Love grounds and guides her. She sells her embroidery at tag sales to finance the family’s annual vacation.
Prolific Chastain (The Debt; The Tree of Life; The Help) creates yet another excellent character here in a spree of recent big screen roles. Samantha struggles to understand and stay with Curtis.
Natural disaster never looked so breathtaking. Adam Stone uses widescreen photography to see beauty in menace. Flocks of starlings, clouds and twin tornadoes loom. Real and impending catastrophes are colored by mystery and mental illness.
Nichols (Shotgun Stories) captures inner and outer worlds with authority and immediacy. His work is reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan’s, but with more ambiguity. It’s impressive that this is only Nichols’ second feature.
Tight, flawless editing by Parke Gregg enhances drama. David Wingo contrasts darkness and normalcy with his music.
End or beginning? The perspective of nature as a benevolent force ready to help humanity is missing here. It’s a worthy premise for another film.
If you like Take Shelter, you might enjoy: The Tree of Life; Insidious; The Debt.
Take Shelter 2011 / R / 2 hours
Cast Overview: Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, Ray McKinnon, LisaGay Hamilton, Rogert Longstreet, Kathy Baker, Tova Stewart
Director: Jeff Nichols
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Suspense, Horror
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