Take Shelter (2011)

In 7 words or less: Man has dreams. Builds shelter.

What's it all About? Things go odd when the father of the family, Curtis is plagued by visions of an apocalyptic storm. With a mother that was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia all signs point to madness; is Curtis loosing his grip on reality or are these visions more meaningful? Curtis then sets out on a destructive jaunt to buy and install a storm shelter to keep his family safe whilst simultaneously pushing them away.

Best bits? There are some great dream sequences which border on horror in here. My favourite is when, trapped in the house with his daughter with a storm raging outside. You see (from inside the house) the gravity defying effects of their house being pulled up into a tornado.

I think that the scariest part, is the portrayal of the Husband's madness. It seems so easy! A few wacky dreams that he can't get over and he's tarred with the mad brush. It's played out in a way that feels very real for the audience too. You are put right into his experience and you hear and see everything that only Curtis can see.

"Bugger..."

It's hard to go over my favourite sequences without ruining it for those who haven't seen it. So I won't. But i'll just say that there is an incredibly tense scene inside the storm shelter that is worth watching the film for alone.

"Sorry, they didn't have kids' sizes."

The ending is also a massive payoff. It's one hell of a slow-boiler but totally worth sticking with it. It stayed with me in a similar way to Another Earth. Not in content but in the lingering feelings.

Did it make you think thoughts? Although very well acted, I thought the leading pair were like a low budget replacement for Bryce Dallas Howard and Joaquin Phoenix. No problem at all though. These two do a better job.

I felt it owed a lot to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. In the way you don't know if it's madness or vision. There's even a scene where the husband is eating dinner. There's mashed potato on the plate and I could swear he was about to shape it into a big storm cloud.

This is worth watching with the sound way up! It's all about the sound. CRAACKKKKK!

Would you watch it again? I recon so. It's a tough one, with little joy. But it's interesting enough to warrant a repeat view.

Rating out of 100: 81%. Powerful stuff. Who doesn't like a good storm?... Nobody!... Oh. Michael Fish.

"Whatcha Building?"............. "Nothing"