Take Shelter

Take Shelter: Oscar-nominated actor Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road), wears psychosis like a second skin. Here he unleashes a bravura performance as a construction worker in the rural Midwest who is plagued by visions and nightmares of an apocalyptic storm looming on the horizon. While his patient wife (a saintly Jessica Chastain) fears for his mental health, he builds insanely well-appointed storm shelter in his backyard.  I was never entire convinced by the story, and felt duped by the ending, but Take Shelter takes some exhilarating risks. And as a grim portrait of a marriage cracking under the weight of man and nature, it makes a curious companion piece to that other Chastain movie, The Tree of Life.