Following his acclaimed debut, Shotgun Stories, writer/director Jeff Nichols reteams with actor Michael Shannon to create a haunting tale that will creep under your skin and expose your darkest fears.
Curtis LaForche lives in a small town in Ohio with his wife, Samantha, and daughter, Hannah, a six-year-old deaf girl. When Curtis begins to have terrifying dreams, he keeps the visions to himself, channeling his anxiety into obsessively building a storm shelter in his backyard. His seemingly inexplicable behavior concerns and confounds those closest to him, but the resulting strain on his marriage and tension within his community can’t compare with Curtis’s privately held fear of what his dreams may truly signify.
Take Shelter features fully realized characters crumbling under the weight of real-life problems. Using tone and atmosphere to chilling effect, Nichols crafts a powerful psychological thriller that is a disturbing tale for our times. —Sundance Film Festival
Jeff Nichols, from Little Rock (Arkansas), stands out as one of the promising new deal in American cinema.
A complex hybridization between Malick and Spielberg (without ever limiting himself to these far-reaching elective filiations), he is right at the edge between American independent cinema and Hollywood industrial cinema. [Shotgun Stories] was striking due to its humble mastery of direction, its capacity to revisit America’s myths grasping at the same time both the territory and the landscape. One could see a “folk cinema”, in the tradition of the great American names, from John Ford to Terrence Malick in Badlands. One could also discover a brilliant actor, Michael Shannon, whose marmoreal grace evoked a “redneck” version of Christopher Walken. The same qualities can be found (including Michael Shannon) in Take Shelter; but there, the art of Americana is somehow “disturbed” by the codes of the genre movie, to be more specific those of the supernatural… read more
What a beautifully executed performance from Michael Shannon. Seriously, I really felt for his character in this film. I was almost relieved as much as he was at the end....you can see it in his face!
In our annual poll, we pair our favorite new films of 2011 with older films seen in the same year to create fantastic double features.
Best Film, Director and Use of Music. The Tree of Life scores Cinematography and, at least in part, Breakthrough Performer.
Most agree that “Nichols is fast becoming one of the deftest storytellers in American independent cinema.”
Brothel films are like submarine movies—the stories, the dramas, even the details always remain the same, held in a airtight container
Updated through 5/6. La Semaine de la Critique, known in the English-speaking world as Critics' Week, is celebrating its 50th year, and festivals
"Curtis (Michael Shannon), the central figure of Jeff Nichols's powerful, enigmatic drama Take Shelter, is living in the grip of overpowering
It is of little wonder that a hackneyed, wholly American film such as Take Shelter has struck a consistently favorable chord with critics and audiences alike. Films like this that pander to… read review
‘Take Shelter’ is a surface level film. I did enjoy the subtlety of it and the emphasis on action over dialogue, but after a certain point you realize that the film has been playing on only one note… read review
Meticulously well done with patience through great pacing, a simple premise that digs deeper into the mind and heart to create a powerfully unsettling tone and atmosphere, and monstrous performances… read review
Le second film de Jeff Nichols, grand prix de la Semaine de la Critique, s’empare de la mythologie du déluge. D’une métaphore apocalyptique, le metteur en scène tire une oeuvre opératique et puissante… read review