Is Michael Shannon the new Kevin Costner? It might be a rather unlikely comparison but witnessing writer/director Jeff Nichols’ second feature film is like watching the Field of Dreams meets 1996 blockbuster Twister. Just like Costner’s character, Shannon plays a devoted family man who is suddenly haunted by supernatural visions and feels compelled to build a large structure in his backyard. But this is where the comparison ends, as the heart-warming nostalgia-fest of the 1989 vehicle is replaced with apocalyptic visions and a gripping sense of unease in Take Shelter.
The film is full of poignant visual moments shot with a haunting allure, as if lost in a beautiful dream. Shannon gives a typically intense, eye-bulging performance as Curtis who is endlessly full of angst; watching him trying to remain the devoted father while endeavouring to understand what’s happening in his head is utterly captivating. Jessica Chastain provides commendable back-up as his loving wife Samantha, but after seeing what she can do in films such as The Tree of Life and Zero Dark Thirty she seems a little underdeveloped – her background role feels more like a waste of good talent than a way of highlighting Curtis’s continuing isolation.
As with many films that deal with mental illness, there’s a lot of ambiguity here which is unnecessarily frustrating at times. The ending feels a million miles away from an otherwise honest and insightful examination of the mental state of its leading character. That said, Nichols admirably highlights a bigger picture here, namely the state of mental healthcare in the US, as well as touching on the effects of the financial meltdown and climate change.