Take Shelter is a haunting movie that will either stay with you for days or frustrate you with its deliberate pace. I can understand why some viewers would lose patience with this film that keeps you guessing until the end about whether Curtis, a devoted husband and father is losing his mind or is a modern day Noah who can see what everyone else around him cannot. I like the suspense of not knowing if Curtis’s nightmares and hallucinations are real or imagined and this story burrowed into my psyche.

Curtis, played by Michael Shannon, seems to have a good life. He has an attractive, loving wife Samantha (Jessica Chastain), a house, and a well-paying job. The only wrinkle in the picture is that daughter Hannah (Tovah Stewart) is deaf but the family appears to have adjusted to this and is happy.

Soon, though Curtis starts experiencing strange dreams of yellow rain pouring down from the sky and violent lightning storms that eventually spill over into his waking hours. He becomes convinced that his family is in danger and decides to expand their existing storm shelter into a fortified bunker where they can live should disaster strike. At the same time, he’s afraid the schizophrenia that drove his mother into a mental facility years ago may be manifesting itself in him. Curtis’s continued uncertainty and strange behavior threaten his job, his safety, and his marriage. Continue reading »