Take Shelter
Dec. 4th, 2011 10:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akashiverSo my reflective post last night was provoked in part by going out to see Take Shelter at the local arthouse cinema.
It's a movie about a construction worker, Curtis, who begins to notice strange things: birds flying in menacing formations; violent storms hovering in the distance. He also begins to experience awful nightmares in which a storm triggers violent behavior in those around him.
The son of a schizophrenic, Curtis knows only too well that his visions might signal the onset of mental illness. But he is torn between trying to shelter his wife and young daughter from his mental breakdown and trying to protect them from the apocalypse he fears may be approaching. So, while secretly seeking medical treatment, he also begins constructing an expensive storm shelter in the backyard. Predictably, his marriage and relationships are increasingly strained by his fearful behavior.
This is a horror movie about anxiety. It's about a person plagued by a vague sense of dread, who keeps shoring up defenses against Something Bad That Might Happen. The genius of the film is that it also infects the audience with this dread: watching Curtis negotiate loan payments, and watching his wife try to arrange an operation for their daughter, we feel a disaster approaching. But from what direction? Is mental illness the threat? Foreclosure? The bad economy? Or is it really the Apocalypse?
There's a lot of good stuff in this movie: the idea of the patriarchy in crisis; the devastation wrought by anxiety; the stealthy creep of the Todorovian fantastic into everyday life. Oh yes, and the script is strong and the performances excellent. I think SF folks will like it for its skillful use of apocalyptic creepiness; everyone else will appreciate it as the unnerving gem that it is.
(The trailer's here, though I think it's better to watch the movie cold.)
It's a movie about a construction worker, Curtis, who begins to notice strange things: birds flying in menacing formations; violent storms hovering in the distance. He also begins to experience awful nightmares in which a storm triggers violent behavior in those around him.
The son of a schizophrenic, Curtis knows only too well that his visions might signal the onset of mental illness. But he is torn between trying to shelter his wife and young daughter from his mental breakdown and trying to protect them from the apocalypse he fears may be approaching. So, while secretly seeking medical treatment, he also begins constructing an expensive storm shelter in the backyard. Predictably, his marriage and relationships are increasingly strained by his fearful behavior.
This is a horror movie about anxiety. It's about a person plagued by a vague sense of dread, who keeps shoring up defenses against Something Bad That Might Happen. The genius of the film is that it also infects the audience with this dread: watching Curtis negotiate loan payments, and watching his wife try to arrange an operation for their daughter, we feel a disaster approaching. But from what direction? Is mental illness the threat? Foreclosure? The bad economy? Or is it really the Apocalypse?
There's a lot of good stuff in this movie: the idea of the patriarchy in crisis; the devastation wrought by anxiety; the stealthy creep of the Todorovian fantastic into everyday life. Oh yes, and the script is strong and the performances excellent. I think SF folks will like it for its skillful use of apocalyptic creepiness; everyone else will appreciate it as the unnerving gem that it is.
(The trailer's here, though I think it's better to watch the movie cold.)
