Review of Shotgun Stories (2007) by Michael A — 09 Jan 2009

One of the best indie films of the past few years. A slow boil masterpiece that is not the shoot'em up the title & premise make it sound like. A good old fashioned clan war movie set in the south & full of great little subtle things that you wouldn't normally see in a hollywood revenge flick.

Might be too slow & "hillbilly" for some tastes but Michael Shannon is quickly becoming one of the best character actors of his generation. Produced by David Gordon Green & it shows, a revenge movie for the art house crowd that manages to be incredibly beautiful, surprisingly suspenseful, & inherently true to the nature of how anger can make men into self righteous monsters; & then offers a glimmer of hope that maybe they're not as dumb as they seem.