Review of Shotgun Stories (2007) by Richard T — 31 Jan 2009

I really wanted to love this film, to be blown away by the story telling, the direction, and the acting, sadly this was not the case. Still, the opening lines of this review are more negative than what is to follow because, for the most part, Shotgun Stories is, at worst, a solid film, though at best I would not say the movie achieves greatness.

I think there are a lot of strengths to the film, the acting is mostly great all around, the score is good at times and tedious at others, the overall look of the film is beautiful, and the direction is incredible.

However, the story, while interesting and mostly engaging, never really grabbed hold of me despite my ability to emotionally invest in these characters and the struggle in which they were engaged. Still, I think the greatest strength of the film is the demand that it places on the audience to not only pay attention to what is going on, but to also fill in a number of gaps either with personal experience or imagination.

Now some could call this lazy writing, and I suppose I could understand that claim, but I think it works incredibly well in context and is aided by an acting style that seems beautifully natural while still feeling incredibly concentrated.

I think there is a lot of depth to the film as well and I do think that there is quite a bit to dissect here, and the pacing is really great, but as a whole I was not floored, though I certainly admire the craft going on here and most of the experience.

I do not know if I will revisit this film in a hurry, but I'm sure I am able to have an even more positive reaction when I do eventually catch this one again. 3.8793421841235.