Take Shelter

AroView: Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young family man questions whether to shelter his wife and daughter from the spectre of a coming storm, or from himself, in this outstanding contemporary drama.

While building on the disquieting atmosphere of his accomplished debut feature, SHOTGUN STORIES, dir. Nichols adds to his repertoire a clear-sighted and intelligent handling of human drama, with a high attention to detail evident in the way he examines the psychological turmoil of his troubled protagonist (played intensely by Michael Shannon). At the heart of the film though is a serious depiction of mental illness where the usual histrionics have been replaced by a disturbing sense of dread, one that feels all too real in this current climate of economic and environmental uncertainty.