Review of Take Shelter (2011) by Dawdlingpoet — 22 Nov 2021

I found this to be quite a tense movie, one in which I felt I shared the lead characters confusion, in terms of trying to understand why what seemed to be going to happen, was going to happen.

There's a strong sense of paranoia present in this movie, as it becomes clear that others surrounding him aren't experiencing the distressing things he is. I noted that there wasn't narration provided, so as a viewer we're having to guess what he's thinking while he's dealing with the distress he's experiencing. Plot wise, this movie is quite a 'slow burner' (I think thats the term?), although there are certainly moments in which sudden things happen and indeed your likely to jump, unexpected events come out of the blue, much like what you expect from a horror movie, only there's less in the way of particularly graphic violence - really its the themes that are alot more disturbing or scary, than the majority of whats shown visually on screen. To me, this seemed quite a classic style of thriller, with the personal background details only very slowly coming to light, the sense of paranoia and general claustrophobia felt throughout and also the fact that the main character is slowly distanced from their nearest and dearest, although he believes he's actually protecting them, when in reality his seemingly distant and irrational behaviour is worrying/scaring them. I found the actor who played Curtis, Michael Shannon, did physically come across as seeming quite sinister, with at times confused and other times determined looking eyes I suppose - its hard to explain that sort of thing but thats what came to mind. His actions seem more and more irrational as the movie continues, irrational, that is, to his partner and others who aren't aware of his visions but that to us, as viewers, would seem fairly logical, if you believed your dreams (or more, nightmares) were going to become reality.

For once, I wasn't overly keen on the use of the musical score in this movie, as I felt it seemed a bit over the top, or over relied on, in this instance. This movie mainly relies on subtle elements to bring about, or heighten the tense atmosphere - the slow, 'drifty' type of camera work used at times and the noise of weather from outside (pouring rain etc.), things like that. I found that some of the effects, in terms of CGI and visual effects in the more sinister scenes, were about average I suppose - its really what it symbolised that was quite creepy and worked well but as far as the actual way its shown on screen, again I felt there was something slightly lacking there - it didn't look quite as, I suppose genuine, as maybe it could have? although it does feel perhaps a little harsh of me to say that but I remember thinking that as I watched it. I certainly wouldn't say any of the issues I mention really spoilt the movie for me at all - I found myself really quite intrigued to discover what would happen to Curtis and his family, what the final outcome would be. I guess you could say this movie highlights the sense of isolation people with such issues must face and this is even more acutely the case given his child is deaf and him and his wife are shown being taught to communicate via ASL (presumably American Sign Language, I know BSL as an abbrevation stands for British Sign Language, which would obviously be our equivalent).

Content wise, this movie features some strong language and moderate violence in parts - some scenes may make you jump but its the themes in general that are more sinister overall. Obviously this isn't the sort of movie that children or younger people would be likely to understand fully, it would be quite scary to young children, so its not surprising that it carries a 15 rating.

Back to the plot and I found the climax of the plot, as it were (towards the end) to be really tense and dramatic and I felt that worked well overall, I was pretty much glued to the seat, waiting to see what Curtis' reaction was going to be at the critical moment - although the absolute final ending may disappoint some but I suppose in a way I should have seen that coming. In any instance, it didn't ruin my general enjoyment of the movie.

I think overall, this movie does well in highlighting some sensitive issues and also in being quite an engrossing story, with pretty interesting characters. I felt it was quite symbolic (if that makes any sense) and despite a few negative points already mentioned, I thought it was quite a decent watch as a mystery thriller.