Jeff Nichols’ follow up to Shotgun Stories is an atmospheric portrait of a man’s struggle to combat the schizophrenia that has taken over his mother’s life. Curtis LaForche, excellently played by Michael Shannon, is a down-to-earth family man working in a small Ohio town as a crew chief for a sand-mining company. There seems little remarkable about Curtis, yet he walks in the shadow of a dark cloud and his life soon starts to unravel when he experiences terrifying visions and waking nightmares that predict apocalyptic destruction. Haunted by his fears, his behaviour becomes erratic and Curtis risks alienating the local community and stretching relationships with those closest to him beyond breaking point.
Michael Shannon emerges as one of the most significant screen actors working today with his depiction of a touching and vulnerable character and thoroughly convincing everyman for our times. Equally, Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life) is luminous as the wife who lovingly supports her husband as he sinks the family deeper into debt in a bid to construct a shelter that will weather all manner of storms. Winner of Critics Week and the International Critics Prize at Cannes Film Festival 2011, Take Shelter is a deeply resonant vision that audaciously probes the psyche of modern America.