Take Shelter

Year: 2011

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Nichols

Review

spoilers ahead. it’s a picture about a man who sees visions of what he thinks is an upcoming apocalypse. for almost the entire film this was a great picture about mental health issues and how they affect the afflicted as well as those around him. it approached that topic with as much tact and honesty as any film i can recall. then, in the end, it seemed to throw that away; maybe. frankly i’m really split on the ending. i’m not ambiguous about what happens, but about how i feel about it. does it matter that the hallucinations end up being prophecy in the end? does that undermine what the film portrayed about mental illness? dunno. for as thin a plot as the film had, though, this moves pretty well. michael shannon is oscar worthy and so is jessica chastain. chastain has one of the better female characters i’ve seen of late and she nails it.

Watched in theater