Movie recommendation: Take Shelter

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Ultraman

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Oct 28, 2005
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Just saw this after borrowing it from our local library. It has a apocalyptic/psychological horror vibe to it, with a storyline superior to the run of the mill end of the word/ disaster movies. The main character is having these dark apocalyptic dreams that compels him to build an underground storm shelter. However, due to a family history of mental illness, he's not sure if he's become like his mother, who is paranoid schizophrenic. He later becomes fixated on getting the shelter done and outfitted appropriately due to the dreams, and his behavior and the things he must do financially to get it done jeopardize the surgery for his deaf daughter and his marriage.

It came out in 2011 and apparently has won several Cannes film awards. The main actor, Michael Shannon, does a great job (he kind of reminds me of Jack Lord - Steve McGarret in the Five-O series!). His acting of a man drawn out with the fear of an impending catastrophe was exceptional, imho.

I'm not going to draw out any conclusions on prepping, or survivalism, for that matter. Just a recommendation for a sleeper of a movie that seemed to me to open a curtain to the sense of dread many of us have in life.
 
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A little too much paranoia for my taste. It was well made but, considering that was made before 2012, they did good job.
It was nice to see even the Doc dismiss Him, hours before all becomes reality.
 
Thumbs up. I also enjoyed Michael Shannon's work on Boardwalk, cable series.
 
The line between his paranoia and the potential for catastrophe played out well.

I enjoyed this movie..
 
Will check it out, thanks!
 
I work intake in a state psych facility, and I'm a bit on the prepared side. I actually really liked this movie!
 
Thanks for the heads-up!

(Dang! Now I have to add this one on top of Willem De Foe's "The Hunter").
 
I saw this awhile back and thought it was very well done.Great acting. I ended up conflicted on the ending however. Was the storm at the beach his Psychosis coming back or was it reality?? Any thoughts
 
machineage said:
I saw this awhile back and thought it was very well done.Great acting. I ended up conflicted on the ending however. Was the storm at the beach his Psychosis coming back or was it reality?? Any thoughts
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Good question - that crossed my mind too. Sort of like a Phillip K. Dick novel. My opinion is that it was real. His dreams had different outcomes (he'd end up getting hurt or traumatized). In this case, his whole family saw the storm coming and he and his wife silently signaled they should go home to the shelter.
 
This movie reminded me in a way of Frailty with Bill Paxton. The whole movie you think the character's mentally ill, when he's the only one right. In the case of Take Shelter, he's a harbinger, but the correlation's still there. Sorry, again, I work in mental health & that's where my mind takes me with this kind of movie. Bug, which shares the same main actor as this, also does a great job of leaving the audience asking questions.
 
I remembered this thread as I just watched this recently.

I can say that with all the not-so-inspiring and CGI-laden stuff being churned out currently that this is really one of more original films that I found actually "moved" me. By that I meant that this movie actually struck both an emotional and thinking response well after watching it, which is very rare nowadays. Michael Shannon's interpretation of his inner conflict and the struggle of how he carries it to the outside is really is worthy of grand accolade.

I highly recommend watching it.
 
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