Take Shelter (15.)
Directed by Jeff Nicholls.
Starring Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, Tova Stewart and Kathy Baker. 120 mins.
In Taking Shelter, which is out next week, Michael Shannon is a man with a problem: it’s raining, raining in his head. He’s an ordinary working guy in his mid-thirties who finds himself plagued with visions and dreams of apocalyptic storms; of thunder of computer generated ferocity, and rain that is like thick yellow oil; and of violent disorder. He tries to keep a lid on it, fearing that they are symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia, a condition that his mother developed at the same age, but their fury is such that he just can’t contain them.
Nichol’s previous film was low key drama Shotgun Stories and Take Shelter offers further proof that CGIs are taking over film making. The opening shot is of wind gently rustling, almost Malick like, in the trees. It’s a shot that might be taken from any other rustic backwoods drama. The next though is of a digitally enhanced storm that could grace any big budget disaster movie.
There’s a basic imbalance at the centre of the movie. The majority of it is played with a unassuming naturalism but every so often this is abruptly interrupted by some stereotypical, though very effective, action set piece or effects sequence. It is like someone is making an effort to sit through a worthy drama on BBC 4 but can’t resist occasionally channel hopping to the blockbuster on ITV.
Shannon is compelling as a man trying to hold on to his sanity but, much as I like his slow drawl delivery, it can be a handicap when it sets the tempo for the whole film. In the standard Close Encounters style drama the little-man-who-sees-things-others-don’t is always vindicated but here you’re not so sure. That uncertainty is welcome but as the film narrows itself into a Is He/ Isn’t He Mad? Pot-boiler, you begin to suspect that whichever way it goes, the solution is going to be a bit of a let down.
Directed by Jeff Nicholls.
Starring Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, Shea Whigham, Katy Mixon, Tova Stewart and Kathy Baker. 120 mins.
In Taking Shelter, which is out next week, Michael Shannon is a man with a problem: it’s raining, raining in his head. He’s an ordinary working guy in his mid-thirties who finds himself plagued with visions and dreams of apocalyptic storms; of thunder of computer generated ferocity, and rain that is like thick yellow oil; and of violent disorder. He tries to keep a lid on it, fearing that they are symptoms of paranoid schizophrenia, a condition that his mother developed at the same age, but their fury is such that he just can’t contain them.
Nichol’s previous film was low key drama Shotgun Stories and Take Shelter offers further proof that CGIs are taking over film making. The opening shot is of wind gently rustling, almost Malick like, in the trees. It’s a shot that might be taken from any other rustic backwoods drama. The next though is of a digitally enhanced storm that could grace any big budget disaster movie.
There’s a basic imbalance at the centre of the movie. The majority of it is played with a unassuming naturalism but every so often this is abruptly interrupted by some stereotypical, though very effective, action set piece or effects sequence. It is like someone is making an effort to sit through a worthy drama on BBC 4 but can’t resist occasionally channel hopping to the blockbuster on ITV.
Shannon is compelling as a man trying to hold on to his sanity but, much as I like his slow drawl delivery, it can be a handicap when it sets the tempo for the whole film. In the standard Close Encounters style drama the little-man-who-sees-things-others-don’t is always vindicated but here you’re not so sure. That uncertainty is welcome but as the film narrows itself into a Is He/ Isn’t He Mad? Pot-boiler, you begin to suspect that whichever way it goes, the solution is going to be a bit of a let down.
