Take Shelter

[vrailaine]

So I went to see this, the new film by Shotgun Stories director Jeff Nichols, in the week and was pretty blown away. Probably my favourite film of the year (excluding Blue Valentine). I know George Clooney already has the best actor Oscar won, but Michael Shannon's performance in this was more than worthy of the award ...actually, looking at the other contenders, it's quite possible he won't even get a nomination.

Don't really want to spoil it, it's kinda slow-paced and hasn't done very well financially so far so I'd recommend seeing it in the cinema, has an average rating of 8.7/10 from top critics on Rotten Tomatoes, and is very, very good.

Spoilers:

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All the dreams were brilliant, the oily rain especially the one with the dog.
I'm inclined to go with the opinion that the ending was a dream but he had his family with him so it was no longer stressful and all that.
Sorta feels like a very contemporary film with the family's whole situation regarding finances, health insurance, the amount of pressure on Curtis balancing current problems with a bleak outlook, etc.

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[Harpo Speaks]

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I'm inclined to go with the opinion that the ending was a dream but he had his family with him so it was no longer stressful and all that.

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Yes, I think that's the key thing.

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The only issue I can see with the interpretation of it being a dream is that we get a shot of Jessica Chastain's hand from her POV.

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I can see why people may have issues with the ending, I did too, and

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I personally would have ended it with him about to throw open the shelter doors. Still loved it though. Fantastic nightmare sequences, and Shannon is great.

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[wheatgod]

The ending is NOT a dream, you assholes!

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Metaphor for America, innit. And its not just paranoia, the shit really has hit the fan. It was REAL.

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[Harpo Speaks]

Hey now.

Like I said, there are things which don't support

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the 'dream' reading of the ending

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, and as you say, there is a financial motif running throughout the film, health insurance et al.

On the other hand,

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while being pleasingly bleak, I do feel that a literal storm at the end does diminish certain other elements of the film somewhat, but in any case it might just be my favourite film of the year.

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[RickyGerbail]

yeah didn't like the ending. bad job.

[Dark Sky]

I loved the ending, it made it like he's Noah or summat

[wheatgod]

Yeah, ending was good. You guys just aren't clever enough to realise it.

Just cos they didn't ride off into the sunset. Jeez - us.

[Harpo Speaks]

You guys just aren't clever enough to realise it.

Just cos they didn't ride off into the sunset. Jeez - us.

Hehe, yeah, that's what everyone who had issues with the ending thought.

Can't wait to see this again, best film of the year. Seems to have been overlooked somewhat, particularly Shannon's performance.

Lovely score as well.

[phes]

I don't think there's anything to indicate that the ending was anything more than the writer failing to stop writing when he should have done, several minutes earlier. As a character study of a man watching himself descend into psychosis it was far more interesting than as a film about a messiah/metaphor for the collapse of whatever. And if it does just represent his family being let into his world, understanding what he's going through then I still think it should have ended when the pacing absolutely cried out for it.

edit: regardless, still one of my favourite films of the year

[RickyGerbail]

Just end it with him sitting alone at a mental institution.

[vrailaine]

The amount of top ten lists I saw with disclaimers saying they hadn't seen Take Shelter was pretty startling. Film wasn't handled by the distributors or whoever well at all.

Still have doubts about how well it'd work for me at home, but the IMDb rating hasn't collapsed so that's probably an encouraging sign.

I didn't have any problems with the ending, the only ones that really ever annoy me are things where everything raps up really neatly in the last ten minutes.

Film done a pretty brilliant job of capturing the whole economic climate of the present imo, one of its strongest features.

[Harpo Speaks]

I didn't have any problems with the ending, the only ones that really ever annoy me are things where everything raps up really neatly in the last ten minutes.

Plus that final shot is just brilliantly done.

Ambiguity featured in the endings of quite a few films last year, it's obviously something that's hard to discuss though without spoiling individual films.

[RickyGerbail]

the ambiguity

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is that the movie has either been a realistic portrait of a man becoming mentally ill or if it's a fantasy/science-fiction movie.

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[Eis Nein]

This movie will or will not blow you away!

Superb.

[EB Farnum]

Interview with Shannon, Chastain & Nichols I found entertaining.

[phes]

There bonus /film podcast this week is is about the end of Take Shelter.

[Harpo Speaks]

Interesting, will have a listen to that, the debate in the main review got pretty heated.

Filmspotting also did a discussion on the ending for their bonus content back in October, you can find it on this page:

http://www.filmspotting.net/reviews/bonus-content.html