David O'ConnellMIFF 2011: Take Shelter
July 26th 2011 01:00
Michael Shannon will no doubt be playing slightly unhinged characters for a long time to come now those closer to the Hollywood mainstream has discovered him. There's something compelling about the guy, with a penetrating dark gaze in his eye and a mouth that hardly moves when he speaks.
Take Shelter has a wonderfully effective ominous undercurrent sizzling beneath the surface of its troubled domesticity. Curtis's nightmares which distract and confound him, create a fissure in his marriage. Wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain) is distanced, his child neglected, and he has a falling out with best friend and co-worker. No a great deal actually happens but still the ominous tone informs all that follows and the anticipation it creates is an act of skilful manipulation on the part of Nichols.
It does feel like about 15-20 minutes could have been culled from the middle section of the film but thankfully it finishes strongly. Curtis‘s obsession and retreat into the underground shelter becomes a potent metaphor for his psychological retreat from the unloosening threads of his life, and the troubled genetic streak that hovers like a malignant aura. Shannon is perfectly cast here; a scene where he gets to finally ‘vent’ is paralysing despite its predictability.
How wonderful it is, too, to see Chastain 'act' out her role as a flesh and blood human being, rather than the dreamy, spectral presence we witnessed passing through Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life like a translucent abstraction. Take Shelter is a striking drama, meticulously if not concisely told, that resonates with a power to unsettle.
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Comment by Bryn
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Comment by David O'Connell
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