Review of Take Shelter (2011) by Khem T — 07 Jun 2013

Ominous and suffocating, Jeff Nichols' Take Shelter is a powerful portrait of family struggle and mental unrest through a lens of post-financial collapse paranoia. Michael Shannon, truly one of the greatest American actors of this generation, gives a tour-de-force performance in the lead role as a man apparently receiving the burden of premonitions, tipping him off to a coming apocalypse.

The story explores the nature of these visions and their effect on his family. Is he a prophet? A madman? Both? Nichols' overpowering sense of foreboding weighs heavily over the film, yet he knows how to let his actors carry a scene.

Shannon is brilliant, and Jessica Chastain gives a more layered and intricate performance here than in any other film she was in this year, including her work in Malick's The Tree of Life. These characters' quiet desperation is at once the stuff of Greek tragedy and also wholly relatable.

Take Shelter has one of those endings that seems at first glance like a "gotcha" moment. Is it a perfect final shot? That is arguable. But if nothing else, it will get you talking about the movie.

And that is a good thing. This is my number 2 film of 2011.