Take Note of "Take Shelter!"

WoW! I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted. I didn't plan it that way. Let's just say the thought of TV executives cancelling both The Simpsons and Dexter this year makes me want to blow smoke all over the web. In actuality, there hasn't been much out that I really considered note worthy...until now!

Now, I ALMOST wrote some notes about Nicolas Winding Refn's instant-classic, Drive, but decided that its $11 million opening made it a little too mainstream for my tastes. I don't think that will be a problem for Jeff Nichols' Cannes-winning Sundance selection, Take Shelter!

This wonderful new indie film has gotten a lot of crap from the web so far b/c its story looks kind of like a retread of Donnie Darko.

Too similar? As if!

Having now seen the film, I can honestly say that those comparisons are justified, but a little too overstated. Thankfully, Take Shelter avoids all of the hipster trappings of our favorite film that was commercially released in the aftermath of 9/11 (which also just celebrated its 10th anniversary!) Nope, no time travel, cosmic deities,      pedophilia, cheerleaders, Joy Division, Smurfs, Evil Dead, Last Temptation of Christ references or Jena Malone here. To me, it felt more like a 21st century version of Field of Dreams.

The always fabulous Michael Shannon reteams with his Shotgun Stories director to tell this tale of an average midwestern Joe who may either be psychic or genuinely psycho. 2011's favorite actress Jessica Chastain plays his short-suffering wife who doesn't do much other than worry and take care of their strangely disabled daughter (but does it well and manages sympathy from what could've been a bad midwestern stereotype). I have to admit, it is nice to see Shannon play a character who might not be insane for a change. It's a pretty conventional story. Good intention-ed person nearly destroys his life in an uncertain economy to follow his vision. Is he nuts like his mother, or is there fire within the smoke? This film could've been a pilot of a re-boot of The Twilight Zone, but what elevates it is the director's tonal control. The suspense could've been cut with a knife. Though I felt the ending was too conventional for the film's own good, the film's dramatic structure was beautifully realized. It has been too long since a director was able to eek so much tension out of such a simple situation. I see this film more as a psychological character study than a supernatural thriller. Shannon is so predictably superior in this role that I am willing to bet he will be nominated for his second Oscar, but in the LEAD category this time. Why it has taken him so long to become a leading male film actor is beyond me. 

Why is this film so successful? Is it the bad economic times that's driving everyone nuts? The fact that mental illnesses aren't exactly going away despite our obsessions with rationality? The realization that we cannot control our destinies or pursue our personal visions without damning ramifications? I think it really is just how understandable how regular people will do just about anything to try to protect their families in even the most irrational of ways because of a hunch. It is refreshing to see this not being done through physical violence, but financial irresponsibility. This is not only a film for our times, but maybe any time. I hope it finds itself an appreciative audience soon and only grows to show the world that you don't have to be an uber-geek like Donnie Darko to have a great destiny. I think we all need shelter from the storm sometimes.

Rush to see this one in theaters...before it blows away...