Take Shelter
TAKE SHELTER
THE WORKS
RELEASED 25th November 2011
In William Friedkin’s ‘Bug’ (2007), Michael Shannon played a 100% ‘bugnuts’ character. Tin foil, UV lighting and self-mutilation were all attempts in his delusional quest to stop the US Army ‘bugging him’. It’s one of the most frightening performances I’ve ever seen. For Sam Mendes’ ‘Revolutionary Road’ (2009), Shannon played another ‘loony’, this time insightful and fully aware of his depressive nature. It’s almost like he’s come full circle with ‘Take Shelter’, as Shannon plays a character at the beginning of a descent into paranoid psychosis.
Curtis (Michael Shannon) is having horrific nightmares based around storm clouds and rain. In one a dog bites his arm, in another he crashes his car and mysterious figures pull his daughter out the vehicle. Struggling with money, with his deaf six year-old daughter in line for a potentially life-changing operation, financial stress seems to be accelerating his fragile state of mind. His wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain) is incredibly supportive but is fully aware of Curtis’ family history of mental illness. When Curtis draws a loan to extend the old storm shelter, family and work life reach breaking point.
‘Take Shelter’ is an extremely impressive second feature from writer/director Jeff Nichols. In style and atmosphere, it reminded me of early (ie good) M. Night Shyamalan, but storywise it’s very much concerned with real people suffering real life problems (illness, money, stress, responsibility). The script injects genuine love into the words Curtis and Samantha speak, small moments that obviously come from Nichols’ own experience of marriage. If Nichols had wanted to, he could easily have re-imagined ‘Take Shelter’ as a genuine prophetic horror movie, but there is never any doubt that this is the sad story of a man losing his mind (although the final scene of the movie seems to throw a confusing spanner into the works). It also takes a sideways look at the current economic crisis and what it’s doing to people trying to struggle through. The approaching storm clouds aren’t just in Curtis’ head.
This is Shannon’s best performance of his career thus far, bringing sadness, confusion, and fear to his usual levels of intensity. It’s like watching the dying days of a man cut down in his prime, not ready to go. Chastain adds another serious role to her resumé, and I’d be surprised if she isn’t in the running for major acting awards at some point in the next few years.
The stuff of nightmares are created by ‘Skyline’s directing/effects wizards The Brothers Strause, and the unshowy way they create storm clouds and flocking birds does them credit. Composer David Wingo (‘All the Real Girls’) adds to the spooky feel of the movie with a moody score.
Fear of the future, fear of death, and fear of losing everything, ‘Take Shelter’ is a fearless movie.
FOUR OUT OF FIVE
