Take Shelter, the 2011 psychological thriller starring Academy Award nominee Michael Shannon and winner Jessica Chastain, has found a new streaming home. Written and directed by Jeff Nichols, famous for his filmsLoving,Midnight SpecialandThe Bikeriders,Take Shelterwill be added toHulu’s streaming library on August 1. Other titles arriving on Hulu includeDistrict 9,Forrest Gump,Father of the Bride,Raising Arizona, andOne Hour Photo, to name a few.
InTake Shelter, Curtis LaForche is a husband and father going through a rough time. LaForche begins hallucinating and havingnightmares of the apocalypse. The visions become overwhelming, and LaForche becomes reclusive even with his family. Despite realizing that his mother showed signs of paranoid schizophrenia at his age, LaForche is sure that his visions represent something. His clash with reality comes too late, right when his family is on the edge of a breakdown. Per the Rotten Tomatoes synopsis of the film:
Curtis LaForche (Michael Shannon) lives in a small Ohio town with his loving wife (Jessica Chastain) and hearing-impaired daughter (Tova Stewart). Though money is tight, he and his family are very happy. But then, Curtis begins having terrifying dreams about an apocalypse that threatens them all. Rather than confiding in Samantha, he begins building a storm shelter in the backyard, and his strange behavior causes tension in their marriage and the surrounding community.
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Today,Take Sheltersits at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes for the critics' score, and 81% for the audience score. Famed Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert called it “masterful filmmaking” in hisfour-star review(his highest rating). He especially highlighted Shannon’s portrayal of the disturbed LaForche and wrote the following:
“Here is a frightening thriller based not on special effects gimmicks but on a dread that seems quietly spreading in the land: that the good days are ending, and climate changes or other sinister forces will sweep away our safety. Take Shelter unfolds in a quiet Ohio countryside with big skies and flat horizons, and involves a happy family whose life seems contented.
“It is the gift of actor Michael Shannon as Curtis LaForche that while appearing to be a stable husband and father with a good job in construction, he also can evoke by his eyes and manner a deep unease. Curtis has what he needs to be happy. He fears he will lose it. His dreams begin to be visited by unusually vivid nightmares: The family dog attacks him, for example, or storms destroy his home.”
‘Take Shelter’ Has an Open Ending That Will Make You Think Beyond the Story
It’s not quite common in modern cinema for movies to actually make you think, especially when the credits roll and you either jump to the next feature or contemplate your recollection of what you just saw.Take Shelterarouses the viewer to try and determine the truth about its ending, and you know what? That’s exactly what you should do.
In the past, Nichols has said that hedesigned the endingto reflect an emotional connection between the two main characters, regardless of what’s actually real and what isn’t. They meet on a common ground where right or wrong is irrelevant; all that matters is that they have the same vision of a blurry outcome. Though it may be unsatisfying for some viewers, it’s a great representation of the doubt that’ll always be present in the LaForche household — and millions of others.
Source:IndieWire
Take Shelter
