Michael Shannon in "Shotgun Stories"
(Credit: International Film Circuit)
- Running time:
- 92 minutes
- Rated:
- PG-13
- Cast:
- Michael Shannon -
- Son Hayes
- Douglas Ligon -
- Boy Hayes
- Barlow Jacobs -
- Kid Hayes
- Natalie Canerday -
- Nicole
- Glenda Pannell -
- Annie
- Director:
- Jeff Nichols
- Genre:
- Drama
- Official Movie Web Site:
- http://www.shotgunstories.com/
- Overall User Rating:
-
(2 ratings)
Big question: Does this low-budget drama's brotherly battle have more intrigue and grit than the Mark Wahlberg/Joaquin Phoenix showdown in "We Own the Night"?
Catch it: Simple lives can have complicated histories, and "Shotgun Stories" has a hard, lived-in understanding of how the past is a monkey that's firmly attached to your back. Shannon's an expert at that look—where if you take one more step he's going to make you pay for it—and the rest of the cast convincingly embodies writer-director Jeff Nichols' revenge tale about the struggles of men and sons, particularly those with no father to set them straight.
Skip it: If you don't want to hear Boy and Kid amusingly debate the best-ever acting role by an athlete in a movie not about sports. Their best guess: Didn't Charles Barkley do a voice in "Fievel Goes West"? (He didn't.)
Bottom line: A bit too much mystery is put onto the origin of Son's scars, and it's no surprise that the movie's produced by David Gordon Green (director of "Snow Angels"), whose similar work comparatively shows that "Shotgun Stories" has an authentic touch that's not necessarily original. But "Shotgun" is much better made than these tiny indies usually are, with well-defined characters who may or may not realize the importance of family, especially in a place with nothing to do and hardly anyone to do it with.
Bonus: Son and Boy determine a good rule to live by. If you want to come over and use my VCR (or DVR), you bring the Doritos.
