Take Shelter is a film of rare power and beauty and one that I really wish I had experienced on the big screen. Like the work of Terrence Malick this Jeff Nichols’ sophomore effort is not easy to convey in text as the film is about the feelings that it evokes and it demands to be experienced first hand. Few films have made me quite so tense and sweaty palmed as this. From the opening few minutes there is an almost suffocating air of foreboding that runs throughout the picture only to be punctuated by moments of quite beautiful serenity. I apologise if that sounds a little hokey, as I said earlier it isn’t easy to articulate the emotions you…

Take Shelter is an incredible, powerful film from Jeff Nichols, the man behind my current #3 film of 2013, Mud. I have had this on top of my "What the hell is taking so long, I need to watch these films" list, but for whatever reason I just kept putting it off. I was certain I would enjoy this film, but I wasn't expecting it to be superior to Mud, a film I adore that I wrote up a 5 star review for on this site back when I first saw it. Take Shelter is absolutely the stronger work though. My lord what a film.

Michael Shannon has to be one of the greatest actors working today, and his portrayal…

"There's a storm coming like nothing you've ever seen, and not a one of you is prepared for it."

There was a time not too long ago when I would not have been able to finish a movie like this. I had my first panic attack in 2010, and every day since has been a struggle to feel comfortable in my own skin. You can even see when I failed to watch Punch-Drunk Love just over two years ago, shortly after I joined Letterboxd. Take Shelter has a similar psychological intensity that cracks open Michael Shannon's skull and spills out a pool of his deepest and darkest fears that slowly seeps into the celluloid the way you might expect from…

There are many films that explore psychological conditions like schizophrenia, and the effect they have on families, but not very many that I can think of where the characters are not exactly certain that is what's going on, and that's the wonderful originality of Take Shelter.

Curtis LaForche is a construction worker living in Ohio with his wife Samantha, deaf daughter Hannah, and of course his dog. Everything about his blue-collar life is the picture of normalcy until he begins having visions of devastation that grow increasingly paralyzing, sinister, and apocalyptic. Oily, black rain, birds flying together in strange shapes, and the family dog attacking his daughter lead him to begin believing that something bad is coming, and that he…

There aren't many things more rewarding than expectations met. This film lived up to its expectations and then some.

This film transfixed me for its entire running time. From the first roll of thunder to the last. It is a testament to great film making when a film manages to captivate its audience to such a degree that time doesn't seem to have the same quality it had before you started watching. Take Shelter does that, it is simply impossible to not be pulled into the head of its unfortunate and compelling hero.

Jeff Nichols' film is visually stunning. He has the ability to create truly mesmerizing images it is simply impossible to take your eyes off. Be it a…

two of my least favorite narrative devices are dreams and storms. i've had my wrist slapped enough in workshops to avoid using both things in my own writing. dreams can undermine the weight of the story's reality, often appearing as a shortcut rather than providing meaningful insight. storms often are an unoriginal objective correlative: they evoke emotion immediately, but lazily. the premise that someone is dreaming about storms... now, that seems a bit on the nose.

Take Shelter utilizes dreams, storms, and dreams about storms in the most economical and evocative way i've seen. this is at once a film about family, a film about understanding, a film about one's own personal truth v. an objective truth, a film about…

This morning I was walking with a friend along the beach. The wind was strong and the ocean choppy, and as we grew nearer I asked my friend what he thought of when he looked out at the blue. He paused characteristically and said, 'I think about what's coming'.

In Take Shelter Michael Shannon starts having nightmares and hallucinations that warn of a coming storm - the storm to end all storms. He's the proud, blue-collar type who can only talk around things. His life is wrapped up in his small family; a resourceful and loving wife (Jessica Chastain) and a deaf daughter who needs an operation to correct her hearing.

Shannon is torn between believing he is ill and…

You think I'm crazy? Well, listen up, there's a storm coming like nothing you've ever seen, and not a one of you is prepared for it.
-Curtis

I love Michael Shannon on Boardwalk Empire, but when he gives a performance like the one in Take Shelter you have to wonder why is he on television and not concentrating solely on film roles. The entire cast is great here, especially Jessica Chastain, but Shannon steals the show with one of the best performances of his career so far.

The film starts off with a sense of coming dread and builds on that every single minute up to the end. It almost becomes unbearable. Even in scenes where you're tipped off in…

Dedicated to @MichaelCox, OH BOY, how I’m thankful to you for suggesting this film to me, cause IT WAS SO GOOD!!

I love pretty much everything about this story, and its characters. The message behind the film is beautiful as well. The whole time I was hooked... hooked to a story that twisted my mind, made me feel like emotions with each other, and the balance between the actors was fantastic. The thing that truly makes this film amazing is the Editing surprisingly... HOLY SHIT, this is only now one of the best edited films of the decade. It was clean, it was focused, and it was consistent. I like my consistency people, you know that. 

Now I’ll get to Michael…