Shotgun Stories

"Shotgun Stories" is a moody melodrama of Southern rural life smartly observed. Jeff Nichols shoots his first feature film, trusting the scenery, the faces of his actors creating the atmosphere while he relies on small town, everyday life circumstances for character building. "Shotgun Stories" is a tragedy that unfolds beautifully as an intimate family drama. It serves as a passionate cry to end senseless violence, as well as a stark reminder that we possess the power to determine our own destinies.

Set against the backdrop of rural Arkansas, "Shotgun Stories" follows an escalating feud between two sets of half-brothers who differ in every way, except for one side of their parental heritage. We are first introduced to Son (Michael Shannon), Boy (Dougls Ligon), and Kid Hayes (Barlow Jacobs), born to a drunken father who didn't have the decency to give his offspring names, and rejected by a mother who was too bitter to care for them. The father decides to abandon his first family to find sobriety, God, and to begin a new life with another family. He fathers four more sons who were given the real names and the upbringing they deserved. The second Hayes family owns a cotton and soybean farm and is comfortably middle class. Son, in contrast, works at a fish hatchery and loses all his money trying to perfect a "system" he thinks can beat the local casino. Kid sleeps in a tent in Son's yard, and Boy lives in a van by the river. When their father dies the sets of brothers are brought together at his funeral, and their previously harbored hostilities erupt and further escalate.

Nichols makes a point not to show us the actual violence on screen. He often cuts away at the critical moments of a confrontation, and it is Nichols' approach to film making that strips away any glamour associated with the violence while being consistent with his message.

It should be noted that the pacing here is pretty slow – albeit realistically so. Thankfully the performances alone are sufficient to keep this counter-revenge tragedy on track. The performances are uniformly excellent with veteran character actor Michael Shannon as the film's emotional anchor. There is plenty to enjoy in "Shotgun Stories," just don't anticipate all the fireworks.

Powerful drama, seems like a Greek tragedy, about poor rural life in Arkansas with no way out for every character to explore and find their dreams and how this way of life drive them to desperation, loneliness and human loss for two families. Acting in silence from the unknown but very solid in their roles Michael Shannon (Son), Douglas Ligon (Boy) and Barlow Jacobs (Kid) as the three brothers. First Attempt to direct from Jeff Nichols (who also wrote the script and produced the movie) ,with beautiful cinematography, winner of New American Cinema Award in Seattle International Film Festival, this is a chilling, tragic and original story to see.

A strong debut from gifted writer-director Jeff Nichols, "Shotgun Stories" (2007) features some fine performances from Michael Shannon and the rest of the cast. It's dark but down-to-earth in the depiction of the mechanisms of poverty.

I've seen Michael Shannon in too many movies to mention, but he may get his due this year with an Oscar nomination for Revolutionary Road. This indie, shot in the State I spent a lot of my growing up years in, is an excellent performance for him. Most of the others in this movie about family tension and revenge are new to acting.

Wars between families and clans are nothing new. There are the famous Hatfields and McCoys, and I just watched L' Héritage (The Legacy) that had the same subject. Here, a daddy left three sons and went off to start a new family. They come together at the funeral, but the abandoned clan set off a feud when they dissed the old man.

It was a slow movie, with a few fights, and it verged on exploding, but family wins out and bloodshed is minimal.

Jeff Nichols' debut film "Shotgun Stories" marked him out as a major talent, something than has been more than realized in the ten years since it was made. It's a great piece of back-roads Americana, thinly plotted but brilliantly observed and superbly acted by a largely unknown cast, (only a young Michael Shannon is familiar to me), as well as being beautifully photographed by Adam Stone in a style reminiscent of early Malick and the early films of one of its producers, David Gordon Greene.

It's set in rural Arkansas and deals with a family feud between two sets of half-brothers. The pace is leisurely and there's little in the way of action despite the promise of the title. When violence does finally erupt it is shocking, if not unexpected, and largely happens off-screen. It remains one of the best American Indies of the last 10 years.