Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols, 2011)

In Nichols's second feature, a family man grows increasingly anxious about the future as he begins to suffer from apocalyptic dreams and builds a storm shelter in the back yard, to his wife's dismay. This is pretty much all that happens in two hours, but the lack of histrionics is welcome given the genre's usual mania for frenetic action. The barely enunciating and diffident Michael Shannon makes an unconventional leading man, and the film slips in and out of lifelike dreams with none of the usual signposting while moving away from the end-of-the-world storyline to become an exploration of mental health issues. Although it is too muted and bare to really grab the emotions, it's nevertheless commendable that the film focuses on the psychology of fear instead of the prescription screaming and devastation.

6/10