Horrible, fascist and poorly acted

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

I admire the cinema of Jeff Nichols since I saw «Take Shelter» and «Mud». Doing an inverse operation now I have seen his first film, «Shotgun Stories», and it is as good as the latter works. A story taking place in a town in Arkansas, in which Son, Boy and Kid, the three poor sons of a man (who abandoned his wife and kids, became a Christian, formed another family and became a landowner) struggle with the man's four sons from his second mating. After a brief intro in which the wife of Son, the older poor brother, abandons him for his addiction to gambling (and he reunites with this his younger brothers Boy and Kid), the real drama starts when the old man dies and Son takes his two brothers with him, they all go to his funeral and he says to the mourning "proper" family that the man inside the coffin was a bastard. And on top of that he spits on the casket. The chain of effects that follows next has to be seen. The rhythm is slow, as delicate embroidery, as if the lines of the story were taking their time to combine, while the dramatic tension is skillfully sustained throughout. Although I feel the ending is an open one, when the movie is finished Nichols has given us another beautiful portrait of rural United States, of sections that are rarely seen with respect and fine perception in the films of the mega-industry. The filmmaker creates an endearing testimony of his people, with memorable scenes, as the dialogue in the backyard when Kid tells Son about his plans to get married, and reflects on how hard is life made to men and women (when they all are entitled to happiness and a part of the riches of the planet – addition is mine). «Shotgun Stories» benefits from very good performances by the whole cast: Michael Shannon as the protective and confused Son, Douglas Ligon as the quiet and wiser Boy and Barlow Jacobs as the violent and yet tender Kid, all three shine as the first set of brothers, having strong support from Michael Abbott Jr. and Lynnsee Provence as two of their half-brothers/nemeses, but so outstanding too are Glenda Pannell as Son's wife, G. Alan Wilkins as the outcast Shampoo Douglas, Coley Campany as Kid's bride, and Natalie Canerday in her brief scenes as the boy's mother. Nichols may have gone the "Hollywood route" now, who knows, but Altman, Kubrick, Allen and many others did so, and they did not lose their knack or soul. Nichols and they can look at their first works and say, "Oh, how easy were we".

Here is a good film where the director makes artistic choices, shapes the material, and never goes for the sensational. The acting is very natural and the setting is interesting (small-town Arkansas.) But, having seen it two weeks ago, I've already forgotten most of the narrative. In too many scenes, the dialogue is just too ordinary and the antagonism between the characters is too plateaued. The basic plot is a blood feud between two sets of half-brothers. Outside of the feud, their lives seem to center on tapedecks, burgers, and boozing. You get the parched quality of small-town Ozarks life, but that doesn't necessarily lend to dramatic form. The scars on lead character Son's back could have been a recurring motif (and meant more); in the director's commentary you learn why that plan was abandoned. A good film which lacks the extra fire that makes you want to return to it.

I must start by explaining the summary comment. I put this in the DVD at 11:30pm after watching the Superbowl and doing the required beer drinking that goes with that. I was pretty sure I would be re-watching "Shotgun Stories" in the morning as I planned to fall asleep. I was amazed that a very slow moving, no real action to speak of movie did such a great job of keeping my interest up. Kicked it out of the DVD at 1:00am, reminded myself to find out who the star was and see what else he had been in since I do not remember him from anything. Michael Shannon is a great friggin actor. I had no interest at all in "Revolutionary Road" but will see it now just to watch his Oscar nominated work."Shotgun Stories" is well worth the hour and a half. You may find yourselves waiting for something big to happen and then realize it did without the gun play or explosions.

This was a great film. I expected slow and uninteresting. But I really loved it. Michael Shannon is a stud. This guy is going to be huge. Great performance. I'm shocked he didn't get Oscar nod consideration for this - but given the apparent lack of viewers, it's understandable I supposed. Nichols has a great script. He sticks to his desire to battle convention and really let the story unfold slowly. I was really impressed. I've read other comments on here about people becoming frustrated with the nod to Terrence Malick - and I completely understand that, and I suspect there will be several more nods to Malick thanks to the NC School of the Arts, but this was a great movie. I've been watching David Gordon Green's movies this week and now this one - and they both attended the same school and I suspect there was a lot of Malick-like influence from the professors.