Directed by Jeff Nichols.
Starring Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Tova Stewart, Katy Mixon and Shea Whigham.
SYNOPSIS:
Curtis begins to have incredibly vivid dreams about a gathering storm, and becomes obsessed with building a shelter to protect his family from it.
Nightmares and storms induce a similar paralysing fear, where the dreams are so frightening, or the thunder so deafening, that you find every muscle fibre locked in a stiffening terror. It’s a difficult experience to convey onscreen, to instil in you the same dread of the protagonist.
Take Shelter is anxious throughout. Curtis (Michael Shannon) keeps having these horribly vivid dreams, which always begin with a terrible storm. The sky starts to swirl and contort, as though writhing in pain, its dark clouds swelling like bruises against the blackening blue. Often the pain becomes too much, and the sky lets out a deafening roar of thunder.
Then the rain begins, its droplets thick like motor oil, with lightning fracturing the landscape. In the dreams, Curtis is usually with his deaf daughter, Hannah (Tova Stewart). Figures made opaque by the heavy rain attack them both, restraining Curtis and dragging Hannah away.
Punching someone in a dream feels weightless, as though all the power drains from your arm as it slowly hurtles towards the aggressor, like you’re submerged in some invisible body of water. A similar helplessness is upon Curtis as his daughter is pulled through the car window, a strong arm around his neck withholding him. Later, during another dream, he cradles Hannah on the floor of his front room as unseen attackers pound at the windows. Then the furniture floats up into the air. The entire house is falling, Curtis’ face twisting as though he might pass out.
He awakes from these hoarsely screaming. Initially, he hides the dreams from his family, but seeks help from the local doctor. His mother was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia when he was ten. She left him in the car outside a supermarket one day and didn’t come back. A week later, they found her in another state eating out of a rubbish bin. She’s been in assisted living ever since, so his father raised him. His father died last year.
They say the crazy are unaware of their condition, but Curtis borrows a book entitled ‘Understanding Mental Illness’ from the library only a few days after his first nightmare. He begins to see a counsellor, too. Mental breakdown narratives can often be frustrating because of the protagonist’s reluctance to accept help. Curtis actively pursues it.
There is no stimulus for Curtis to descend. His father died, but that was a year ago. His daughter is no longer a baby and has been deaf all her life. Yet he still feels as though he’s loosing control, of both his mind and the security of his family. It’s pretty topical in the subtext.
But he still cannot shake the nightmares. They are so intense that they begin to permeate his waking day. He hears thunderous claps where there are no storms, which are later accompanied by disturbing visions. “Is no one else seeing this?” he asks under his breath, only to himself.
The sky always looks as though it’s hiding, shot behind tree branches or up so high that it’s out of sight. Curtis’ eyes constantly drift upwards to check on it. Everyone else is concerned with ground level problems – the economy; holiday trips; his daughter’s hearing implant.
Perhaps Curtis simply can’t comprehend these, instead choosing to place all his anxieties into something he can understand – a storm is coming, so he must build a shelter to protect him, his wife and their daughter.
Although aware he might be crazy, he begins work on the old storm shelter in the back yard, making it bigger, stocking food, supplying electricity. This isolates him from the local community, and eventually his own wife and child. He’s building an ark for three.
It’s a shame there isn’t more humour in Take Shelter, as there’s something inherently ridiculous to its plot. You have to admire the film for playing it so straight, but tension works better when you allow a release once in a while.
Shannon is the guy who was Oscar nominated for Best Supporting Actor for only two scenes in Revolutionary Road. He excels in the unhinged, which befits his role here. He hasn’t the most light-hearted of faces. Rather than smile, his permanent grimace simply curls upward on either side of his mouth.
Some have said the ending is a cop out. It could certainly do with a bit more foreshadowing, but it doesn’t ruin the film at all. Rather, Take Shelter hovers just above mediocrity for its duration, never sure how to become a great movie. Perhaps it needs more drama and conflict instead of more brooding shots of the sky.
RATING ***
Oli Davis
365 Days, 100 Films
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