Clouds gather, wind roars, rain pours.
People will react to Take Shelter in distinctly personal ways. I'll tell
you mine. For one thing, as a young person I always felt acute disappointment
when an author took refuge in revealing that the story he had just told me was a
dream. I felt tricked by the discovery that after putting my full faith into his
hands and suffering along with his characters, none of it had really happened.
In Take Shelter, writer/director Jeff Nichols undermines his own strong
story by using this device repeatedly when he could easily have invited us into
the dreams that are central to his promising story.
Let me
backpedal. Curtis (Michael Shannon), his wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain) and
daughter Hannah (Tova Stewart) live a good life in a rural landscape. Samantha
makes jewelry that she sells at the county fair, Curtis works for a construction
company as foreman of a drilling team. He loves his family, and they love him
back. As our eyes wander across fields that stretch under blue sky around them,
we know we will see a movie made with professionalism and care.
On the day
after which nothing will ever be the same for him again, Curtis stares skyward
studying the cloud formations of an approaching storm while raindrops fall onto
his outstretched hands. These are not ordinary raindrops. And so the elements
become the main character of this story. Clouds gather, wind roars, rain pours;
birds fly in Hitchcockian formations.
After
suffering several frightening nightmares born of the ominous nature of the
weather, Curtis becomes intensely preoccupied with building and stocking a storm
shelter behind his house. As the preoccupation becomes obsession, co-workers,
friends, his wife, and certainly the audience start to question his stability.
When Curtis says, "I'm afraid something might be coming; I can't describe it,"
we start to ask questions of ourselves. Will he or won't he be justified? Is the
weather deteriorating or is it in his mind? Is Curtis prescient or mentally ill?
Intelligent and sensible, he seeks professional help, and at too long last, he
shares his fears with his wife. This is a fine central dilemma in search of
illumination. But director Nichols slips.
With good
actors on hand to develop his intriguing premise, he did not have to resort to
the shock factors of sudden loud sounds, a booming soundtrack, and the trickery
of blurring dreams with reality. In spite of convincing performances by Michael
Shannon and Jessica Chastain, we are a bit embittered. By this time we have
endured five nightmares involving earthquakes, an abduction, a train wreck, a
vicious dog, and a pickaxe. After the nightmares, we are finally on a level
playing field where we can decide for ourselves whether Curtis has been having
delusions or visions, but, true to his way, director Nichols has one more
surprise in store for us. His final twist is a good one perfectly in accord with
his central premise. Partial redemption.
Copyright (c) Illusion