A young husband and father (Michael Shannon) experiences visions of a deadly storm coming. What impressed me the most about Michael Shannon’s work here is that he’s playing a guy who may or may not be slipping into insanity, and Shannon doesn’t go big with almost all of it. If you’ve seen enough Michael Shannon you know he’s usually more comfortable going big, but this time he’s super intense to watch because you can see him struggling to stay calm while outside forces are pushing him to explode. He does get that moment, where he shouts until his face turns red, but the real emotional climax is a quiet one with the family a few minutes later.
Interesting to read how the “storm” may be a metaphor for the financial crisis, or any of the other storms we’ve been dealing with since the film’s release. There’s always a storm/crisis on its way. You can also look at the film more literally, with Michael Shannon’s Curtis fearing that he’s inherited his mom’s mental health, which could also be the storm. It leads to a wonderfully ambiguous ending – as good as the one in Inception – where he comes to realize it’s his wife (Jessica Chastain) who may be most in need of shelter from the coming storm. I was delighted by how confident Jeff Nichols was with the visual effects. The dream scenes hit early and much more often than I was expecting for such a small picture. They look completely organic and in conjunction with the score strike a mood the film matches.
Leave A Comment