No. 24 Take Shelter (2011) 49 of 100

 

When you click on Michael Shannon's IMDb page the first thing listed under his ‘Known for’ bio is this film. It also has a photo from this film as the first image, so it’s clearly a big outing for the actor. It came out during his run on ‘Boardwalk Empire’ and it’s one of the first pictures on his CV where he’s the leading man and basically carries the film.

It’s one of his many collaborations with director/writer Mike Nicholls, with the two reuniting recently in ‘The Bikeriders’ which we’ve already had a peek at.

In the film Shannon plays Curtis, a hard working family man whose young daughter has become deaf. The family are learning sign language and looking to get surgery for her to restore her hearing. Curtis works for an engineering company drilling holes and is partnered with Shea Whigham, a pairing we see reprised later in ‘Boardwalk Empire’.

The first sense of things being somewhat awry is when he stands out in the rain and finds it to be a thick, syrupy substance. He doesn’t fret over this but soon succumbs to bad dreams with three separate nightmares causing him to wake up in a cold sweat and latterly in a patch of pee. These ‘it was only a dream’ moments do get a bit annoying but they do set the scene well of Curtis’ cognitive decline. He goes to visit his mother in a home, where she was sent due to her schizophrenia and he worries that he may have the same affliction.

He also seeks out psychiatric help and medication before eventually confiding in his wife about his fears. There is no religious angle flagged but it’s clear to the viewer that he’s having visions of an impending apocalypse. To prepare for the incoming Armageddon Curtis builds an elaborate storm shelter and soon loses his job and friends over his mania.

His wife, the excellent Jessica Chastain, stands by him and it looks like Curtis will be proven right when the tornado alarms sound. The family take shelter in the bunker but the storm passes with only minimal damage. Has Curtis overstated the potential threat or is this just the beginning?

I enjoyed this film but it was a bit long at two hours. The whole story came down to whether Curtis was a nut or not and I think this could have been explored in a half hour ‘Twilight Zone’ episode or similar. That said, the time wasn’t wasted as Curtis’ slow decline into outright mania was well documented.

The waking visions of bird flocks and thunder, and the dream based child abduction all helped to raise the general feel of unease and heading to the finale I was uncertain if Curtis was a prophet or just unhinged. The ending is left somewhat enigmatic but I think the return of the syrupy rain and the storm clouds on the horizon suggest that having the buildings insurance updated may be a good idea,

Shannon is excellent in this and runs the full gamut of likeable and loving Dad, to out and out raving lunatic. The feel of unease that runs throughout the film is well realised and I was glad there weren’t more biblical elements, with the film firmly grounded in reality. It was interesting that Curtis’ medic was ‘Dr Shannon' and that the actor’s home state of Kentucky was mentioned – clearly this was a personal project for the actor.

Overall this one was a bit long but if you settle in for the ride you will get an enjoyable, if somewhat unsettling, experience.

When is Shannon-On? - 00.47

Outcome? Uncertain, but a storm’s coming!

Film 3.5/5

Shannon Stars 4/5