Take Shelter (2011)

A young man (Michael Shannon) with a wife (Jessica Chastain) and a deaf daughter (Tova Stewart) is tormented with apocalyptic visions of tornadoes, raging storms and faceless zombie like apparitions roaming the roads. Are these signs of a mental breakdown or is he a prophet with visions of a dark future? This stunning, powerful film is the vision of writer and director Jeff Nichols (SHOTGUN STORIES) and the film is a metaphor for the justifiable paranoia that many Americans are feeling right now. Nichols has tapped into our fear (not unlike Soderbergh's CONTAGION), like the film's protagonist, that something just isn't right with the world right now. Whether it's the near disastrous economy or frightening change in weather conditions around the world, who doesn't have that uneasy feeling that something dark and horrid is just around the corner? The film's pace is very slow which may cause some impatience but I think Nichols was right to take his time, leaving us as off balance as Shannon. After this and BUG, it's time for Shannon to venture out of the whacko roles and try something else. Oh, he does top notch work here as he did in BUG but there's such a thing as going to the well once too often. That sorceress Jessica Chastain gives her fourth terrific performance of the year and I'm excited to see what she'll come up with next! The film's ending is as powerful an image as I've seen all year. With Kathy Baker as Shannon's mentally ill mother.