Take Shelter (2011)

Maybe the real genius of Jeff Nichols, director of the absorbing, solid independent 2011 film Take Shelter, was in picking such a fine actor as Michael Shanon in the main role. He fits perfectly into the contemplative, enigmatic perspective of his movie. And in the meantime, Shannon provides it with a class and dignity that makes this humble parable even more resonant.

The plot is simple: a construction crewman starts having repeated nightmares where he and his family are threatened by a catastrophic storm. Even more scary, the dreams escalate in violence and soon he and his daughter get also attacked by his own dog, his friends and other townspeople in a sort of trance. The man is afraid to be losing his mind like his own mother, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia more or less at the same age. At the same time, though, the foreboding feeling gets so overwhelming that the man starts expanding a subterranean storm shelter to protect his family.

Maybe the resolution of this story does not match the growing expectations we develop throughout the film. The ending is kind of cryptic and, with some justice, some may find it unsatisfying. But if you are a real cinema lover, by then you are already sold. You are aware that you just watched a sample of first-class cinema, in an unpredictable, intelligent style that creates questions that remain with you long after the movie credits rolled up completely.

In the end, this is a movie about panic. Panic of something that is coming your way; panic of what your neighbor's real face will be; panic of this erratic weather; panic of this society that is hardly the same one in which we grew up. In these days of economic duress and growing political radicalism, fear is the trademark of the times. And Michael Shannon's character suggests that these fearful times we are living in, are pervading the deepest end of our minds. He might be right.