Mini-review: Take Shelter (2011, Nichols)
November 12th 2011 03:26
Mini-review: Take Shelter (Nichols, 2011)
Written November 11, 2011
I’ve seen Take Shelter twice now and I believe I enjoyed it even more upon second viewing. Writer/Director Jeff Nichols’ second feature film is a daring and captivating look at a man whose life is beginning to unravel around him due to the sickness of his own mind. Curtis (the brilliant Michael Shannon) seems to have been a regular guy with difficulties and struggles as everyone else, who one day begins having terrifying dreams and paranoid delusions that largely surround the theory of an upcoming Rapture. Curtis consciously aware of the thoughts he’s having, the way the dreams make him feel, but he’s helpless against them. Watching Shannon convey a man who actively believes he’s crazy yet still goes upon various courses of action which play into his delusion is utterly fascinating.
Shannon has played a number of manic characters in the past yet somehow manages to bring something new to the table with each role. His Curtis is hard yet vulnerable, angry yet frightened, as he attempts to diagnose himself with a disease he’s positive he has due to a familial history.
Even as Curtis goes about diagnosing himself and seeking the help of counselors, he continues to act upon his own delusions, unable to shake the crippling fear and sense of reality the dreams bring him. Before long, he begins expanding upon the storm shelter in his backyard. The affect Curtis’ actions have on his family and friends is thoroughly explored through a backdrop of the rural mid-west in a current struggling economy.
One cannot avoid the recurring theme of financial hardship throughout the film. All of Curtis’ problems stem from the lack of funds necessary to facilitate help. In need of an actual board certified psychiatrist, he fails to go as the drive is too far and gas prices too high to fill up his truck. Curtis’ daughter is in need of medical attention as well, and when a particular event occurs, the main question is above all else is, “What about the medical?”
The film is as much a mediation on the lack of universal healthcare in the U.S. as anything else, yet it’s handled in a sparse and understated way, coupled with elements of horror and psychological drama that one never feels they are viewing a ‘message film.’
In addition, Nichols is clear and concise in handling of the numerous sequences that occur largely toward the beginning of the film. By the time the second and third sequences occur, the audience is fully aware of what is going on, just as they should be.
Shannon carries this film through and through, creating a haunting portrait of a man thrust into psychological turmoil and fighting against the storm in his own head as well as the tangible one his mind believes is coming. The films score is married perfectly to the content occurring, swelling in just the right moments and heightening the tension. The film’s last 15 minutes or so is something to behold and its ending will cause you to examine everything you’ve just witnessed, staying with you for days after.
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