TAKE SHELTER

Have you ever had a nightmare that felt so real that you couldn’t tell if you were asleep or awake? How about a vivd dream about someone you know that came rushing back to you the next time you saw them? Moments like these are unnerving and can sometimes be wickedly hard to shake…it’s enough to drive a person crazy.

Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon) is a construction worker in a small town. He is happily married to his stay-at-home wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain), and father to a hearing impaired daughter named Hannah. They live in a pretty little house that suits their needs, and when time comes to take a vacation they are content to simply rent an apartment for a week in Myrtle Beach. As one of his close friends puts it, he “Has a good life”.

However, Curtis and his good life start to get thrown off-axis. He suddenly begins to have night-terrors about a strange approaching storm; one where the rain that falls is less like water and more like fresh motor oil. He envisions many things that involve many real aspects of his life, and as they get more and more intense he finds it increasingly difficult to go through these parts of his day without feeling tense and afraid.

Unable to shake the feeling that these visions of stormy weather are some sort of premonition, Curtis takes drastic action. After inspecting his property’s storm cellar, he finds it wanting. He dives headlong into building a better one, much to the chagrin of many people who love him.

Is Curtis going crazy, or is he able to see which way the wind is blowing?

TAKE SHELTER continually returns to the metaphor of the coming storm. This is a neat trick, since when you think about it you realize that a coming storm is one of the most effective metaphors there are. Forces of nature are something we learn about early in life, and likewise how powerless they can render us meagre human beings. While sometimes they can kick up quick and catch us completely off-guard, we can usually see them coming on the horizon. That sense we get…that moment of feeling the winds change and sensing what is coming our way…that’s a the same feeling we can get when we sense something in our lives is about to upset itself.

This inkling of impending doom is embodied amazingly by Michael Shannon. Shannon plays Curtis in a very particular way that very few actors are capable of doing. He plays him ever-so-slightly “off”. He’s not a raving lunatic (though he gets his moment), and not a babbling compulsive (though he gets moments of that too). What he is is a man afraid in ways that most of us never feel. For starters, he cannot shake the feeling that these night terrors he’s experiencing have some sort of genuine meaning (That’s enough to drive a person cuckoo right there). If that weren’t enough he carries with him the burden of possible genetic mental disorder.

Thus for Curtis, it’s not just “Am I crazy?”, but it’s “Am I beginning a specific sort of crazy that has already turned my life upside down once?”

That’s a lot to pack into one performance, but Shannon does it perfectly. His eyes carry this strange blend of pleasantry, fear, and determination. When he speaks, he sometimes barely opens his mouth more than a few millimetres. His Curtis is the sort of man you would think nothing of striking up a conversation with were you both in the same waiting room. Of course, once you spoke to him for a moment or two, you might think otherwise.

Playing off Shannon perfectly is Jessica Chastain as Samantha. When a husband and father is starting to fray, there are many reactions a wife and mother could find herself with. She could display anger, bitterness, betrayal, fortitude, compassion, or a blend of all those and many more. That blend is what Chastain goes for – echoing the audiences pity for Curtis and what he’s going through, but still holding him accountable for what his actions are doing to their family. Chastain has a dignity about herself in this film – a centre that allows her to avoid taking a tough situation and making it far worse.

These performances alone would be enough to recommend TAKE SHELTER, but what makes the film something special is the way writer/director Jeff Nichols takes this tiny indie film and gives it a grand stage. Half of this film is about Middle-Americans sitting around talking – which comes part and parcel with many indie offerings. But that other half, the half which we spend inside of Curtis’ head as he sees what he sees and tries to make heads or tails of it all has a twisted elegance.

It’s these scenes in TAKE SHELTER which truly haunt us (along with how Michael Shannon reacts to what he’s seeing). These are scenes that belong in a Terrence Malick film: These visuals of gathering clouds, or flocking birds. Such vision is rare for a film of this scale and not only make us sympathetic to Curtis’ descent, but stick with us well after the film is over.

TAKE SHELTER is as unforgettable as it is unexpected. It makes us shake our heads at Curtis’ actions, but leaves us sympathetic enough that we want to grab a shovel and pitch in. But as we wade so deeply into the water with Curtis, we never stop asking ourselves why we’re doing it. Perhaps it’s because we pity the guy and his mental state. Perhaps we see him as the upstanding person we want to be, and can’t refuse him a favour.

Or perhaps it’s because deep down, there’s a small fear that maybe these storms he’s talking about are indeed coming after all of us. Maybe we’re afraid that Curtis isn’t so crazy after all.

Matineescore: ★ ★ ★ 1/2 out of ★ ★ ★ ★

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