Shotgun Stories

I tend to go into press screenings blind. This means any production notes or press packs I get handed go straight into my bag or pocket until I’ve had a chance to check out the movie. Sometimes these are lavish affairs often better produced that the movies themselves and some are just badly photocopied Word documents. Occasionally (as was the case of at least one movie this festival) they make a whole lot more sense than the films I sit through.

This afternoon I saw Shotgun Stories and after a pretty bleak festival it was a breath of fresh air and something that I thoroughly enjoyed. Once home I dug out the day’s press crap in order to find out what exactly Jeff Nichols had done previously, as I was keen to see what he’d cut his teeth on to get to this great little movie. I was shocked to find that this was his first full length feature.

It’s a remarkable achievement. The film is a sober and refreshing look at revenge and shows a maturity that makes me want to see everything that Nichols has been involved in. Here’s what he has to say about Shotgun Stories:

There is no victory in revenge. This is an idea I chose to explore with Shotgun Stories, a film tracking a feud that erupts between two sets of half brothers following the death of their father. So often in literature, film, politics and society, revenge, and more importantly the execution of revenge, is considered success. Whether it’s Edmund Dantes fulfilling his pledge to ruin Danglars in The Count of Monte Cristo or Hans Gruber falling to his death in Die Hard, the euphoric feeling we get as an audience watching the villain meet his or her comeuppance is undeniable. With Shotgun Stories, I wanted to work against this notion. I wanted revenge to be an awkward thing to exact and a cause not necessarily championed by the audience. Violence is an unusual task for these characters, just as it is for most people. Their anger and emotions are validated, but their reactions to those emotions are not precise. My hope is that Shotgun Stories gives an honest portrayal of normal, hard working people responding to the pain and heartbreak they find, and at times create, in their own lives.

I noticed that he’s also worked on The Rough South of Larry Brown which makes perfect sense as the film evokes the work of Brown very well, especially something like Father & Son. I’d love to see Nichols go on to adapt his work or even some early Cormac McCarthy.

While this seems to be a career best for Michael Shannon he’s surrounded by a great cast (the actresses are all especially good) and Nichols knows how to frame a shot. Sometimes dwarfing the actors in the landscape, the film was shot in 35mm and looks beautiful throughout. Plotwise it revolves around slowly unwinding tension and violence between two sets of half-brothers. The stark drama serves the action well and it has a suitably masculine feel about it, with things not said sometimes proving more powerful than the very authentic dialogue.

One of my favourite movies so far, it plays on the 19th and 21st of this month at the London Film Festival. If it doesn’t get a decent wide release after that then there’s no justice.