Shotgun Stories (2007)

Shotgun Stories tracks a blood feud between two sets of half brothers in the cotton fielded back roads of Southeast Arkansas. This auspicious directorial debut by Jeff Nichols features a strong lead performance by Michael Shannon (Bug) and has been collecting a litany of awards and nominations since debuting at the Berlin Film Festival -including one for Best Picture at the 2008 Independent Spirit Awards.System Requirements:Running Time: 92 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/COMING OF AGE UPC: 858423001391 Manufacturer No: LIB00139 Product Description

Vendetta Stories

This film got under my skin, like a shotgun pellet. It's a simple story, an old Biblical story, a story of Greek tragedy in the vein of Oedipus Rex. It isn't easy to analyze, because the motivations of the characters are too driven by their personal histories and their reticular activation systems. It is all too pat to say, as one critic did, that their meat-headedness makes them into archetypes, or that southern men would rather die than appear weak. These kinds of observations miss the mark by far.

The notion of conflicted emotions is at the heart of the film. All of the characters are more or less sympathetic figures, except maybe for the one brother, Cleamon, who is unable to let go of the perceived funeral insult, and is determined to provoke the situation. Yet the 3 brothers, Son, Kid and Boy are like so many guys I have known in different parts of rural America. In their neighborhood, not much ever happens, and getting by is a hard scrabble, they're decent fellows, and are willing to live and let live. Kid would like to get married, but he sleeps in a tent in Son's back yard. Boy lives in a van down by the river. They are recovering from a childhood that was clearly deprived of both opportunity and simple human kindness. The pock mark scars on Son's back are some kind of a codex to the challenges they must have endured, and he seems to shoulder it all with a quiet patriarchal resignation. And then there are the kids fostered from their fathers 2nd marriage, with a family farm, college educations, a sober, well regarded Dad, Christian mother; the contrast between the material circumstances of the two sets of half brothers could not be more acute. How could the abandoned and neglected brothers not have strong feelings about the situation? How much of a spark is needed to ignite their kindling?

I was reminded of the scene in the Godfather when Michael Corleone is walking in Sicily and asks, where have all the men gone? "All dead from vendettas."

Like the making of War, itself, the question is begged. What is it going to take to break the cycle of violence? If, as Mahatma Gandhi famously remarked, an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind, how can reason and self-restraint reassert itself in the face of instinctive, murderous rage? Boy, the gentle moral center of the film, seems to suggest one way it might be done. Can you shoot a man in cold blood in front of his children? It's been happening in Iraq on an almost daily basis. What has to happen for the violence to stop? What made it stop in Northern Ireland? The Tibetans demilitarized 700 years ago. The hands of remorseless Chinese inflicting horror has yet to change their minds about that. What will it take for the Chinese to stop their violence?

I am reminded of an old Zen teaching story: A proud Samurai visits a Zen Roshi and says he has heard about Heaven and Hell, but does not understand them. Where are they? The old Roshi remarks that the Samurai is obviously much to stupid to understand such things. What? Sputters the Samurai, drawing his sword in rage. Here open the Gates of Hell, says the Roshi. Chagrined, the Samurai returns his sword to its sheath. Here open the Gates of Heaven, says the Roshi.
July 20, 2008

Excellent drama, highly recommended.

This is a surprisingly good independent film.
As if hyper-transported into the rural southeast and placed smack dab into the porch of the Hayes brothers; Son, Kid, and Boy. Thusly named by an abusive alcoholic father who abandons them at an early age and finds Jesus. Juxtaposed, a hateful mother bred three hateful men. Each of which provide the audience with a unique and destitute existence in some ways cocoon by an oldest brother Son. There is a strange brew of co-dependence between them.

The crux of the film involves the after effects of a conflict between half brothers (the aforementioned Hayes brothers and a latter set of Hayes brothers established after the father manages to marry again).
Uninvited, Son, Kid, and Boy arrive in everyday attire contrasting the row of white shirts and ties adorned by another four Hayes brothers. Son, presumably the oldest Hayes brother, ask to speak. Widow Hayes grants permission amidst obvious tensions between both sets of brothers.... As if given a hatchet for scalping, Son lets out 30+ years or so of demons and then spits on his father's casket... This event provides the seed for the Hayes and Hayes feud which for all practical purposes was part of a prophecy...

Make no mistake the feeling of a documentary in England Arkansas. Here is time to examine the surroundings, and perhaps time to reflect on familiar footpaths that some viewers experienced in their own life. The landscape and setting are so "as a matter of fact" and real. Just the right amounts of music, surroundings, and quietness to capture the monotone and depressing attributes of a southern small town without distracting from the story line or personal interactions. It's very different and refreshing to see this type of work in contrast to mainstream and block-buster films. In some ways it was reminiscent of "Ulee's Gold" but much better at examining the granulose existence of multiple characters.

Admittedly, "Shotgun Stories" is a film for people that like drama. The characters are superb. Gritty, and clearly depressing at times, but not to the point of spiraling the viewer into an abyss of nausea. It is in fact, captivating even at a slow to moderate pace. Although I feel the title is entirely appropriate, it may mislead a few into thinking Sam Peckinpah is directing. Modern film is so often consistent with revenge which tends to include graphic scenes either in bulk, or in the climax. "Shotgun Stories" plays out all the intensity necessary without anatomical explosion for a hand clinching climax. In today's tense, this is an exceptional film achievement.

Highly Recommended! July 6, 2008

Resentment and Revenge in America's Heartland.

In "Shotgun Stories", writer/director Jeff Nichols places a story of resentment and revenge in rural Arkansas. Three close-knit brothers attend the funeral of their father, who had stopped drinking, become religious, and started a new family after years of abusing his first family. The eldest brother, simply named Son (Michael Shannon), lets loose his hatred for his father at the funeral, setting off a feud with the four sons of his father's second family. Middle brother Boy (Douglas Ligon) is trepidatious about the escalating violence. Youngest brother Kid (Barlow Jacobs) is affable but intensely loyal. When the eldest of the second family's sons, Cleaman (Michael Abbott, Jr.), tries to head off the conflict, Son just can't let go of his bitterness and shame.

A feud unfolds slowly and quietly in America's heartland. The brothers' mounting anger explodes in violence against an eerily uneventful background. There is a very nice score written in part by the director's brother Ben Nichols, which is used sparingly, allowing the isolated and measured quality of life to sink in. The success of this film is due to that tone, which the actors uphold admirably with unsentimental and unself-conscious performances. The feud results partly because some of the brothers are more like their father than they would like to admit, but perhaps even more because they have nothing to do. There is little distraction from the past's sins and the present anger. Films of family feuds are hardly new, but "Shotgun Stories" strikes an interesting note.

The DVD (Liberation 2008): Bonus features include a Photo Gallery with a slide show of production stills, a theatrical trailer (2 min), and 2 audio options for viewing the film. You have the option of watching or listening to the film with only the music sound track, no dialogue or other sounds. There is definitely some good music in "Shotgun Stories", but it's too intermittent to make this option practical. There is also a fairly constant audio commentary by writer/director Jeff Nichols, in which he talks about filming in Arkansas, casting, the actors, the locations, cinematography, story, and his inspirations for various aspects of the film. No subtitles. July 6, 2008

New hope for American Independent film

Indie Wire has been all abuzz with recent comments by former Miramax president Mark Gill that the "Sky is falling" on the American Indie film scene. "Shotgun Stories" offers evidence to the contrary. It's a real film, with real human emotion, with believable characters, story and setting. Nothing rings false. That is so monumentally rare in global cinema that it makes me proud that the film is American. And this is no flag-waiver fare. As a matter of fact it is politically opinionless. The concerns of a small inter-familial war can most definitely be symbolic of certain recent larger conflicts, but only on a universal level, in that all violence escalates from a certain point, and that start when viewed in hindsight is usually petty, but the damage unrepairable.
The camera work is marvelous, the cast led by Michael Shannon is impeccable, and film is quietly moving. It's a true throwback to the maverick 1970s. The DVD even has the Lucero score on an isolated track, which I've let run in the background a few times while tending to household chores. I didn't get to catch this in theaters, and I really wish I had. Thank god for DVD. July 1, 2008

An excellent southern film that should be on Blu...

First-time director Jeff Nichols managed to create this amazing minimalist film on a shoestring budget. I was impressed with how so much was told but at times hardly anything was happening. A worthy independent with a big-budget production feel to it.

The cast was all recruited from nearby regions, including Michael Shannon, who gave a stellar performance as the lead brother. He is one of those actors where so much is said just by their minimal facial expressions. There are only a couple of familiar faces in the cast, otherwise this was an independent film all the way, but you would not know with the excellent acting by everyone.

The film takes place (and is filmed) in Arkansas, including areas in and around Keo, England and Little Rock. My HD comment goes to the massive amounts of landscapes and topography that are shown throughout the film. The widescreen ratio beautifully displayed rural Arkansas farms, sunsets, and small town decay; the best I have see in a southern movie in years. I would love to see this artwork in Blu.

The story is about three brothers living a simple existence, two work at a fish farm while the third moonlights as part-time teacher. Their bland livers are scattered with normal wants, including one who wants to get married, another wants to maintain a relationship with his son while dealing with his gambling and familial separations, and the last brother just ekes out a living from his van while coaching middle school kids in basketball. Their lives are shattered with violence when their estranged father dies and they decide to attend his funeral. A feud erupts between the dad's newer family and theirs as they all try to cope with their spite and hatred of each other.

The story develops slowly but it reflects the pace of life there so eloquently. The script and scenes seemed so accurate of that lifestyle, including a sequence where the main characters run an extension cord into their home's backyard, connect it to an residential AC unit and set it on a picnic bench to keep cool while drinking beer. In another scene the van brother runs a hot-wired cord from his vehicle's motor to a blender so he can make drinks. Lots of these local subtleties that make for a worthwhile film that deserves to be seen. The soundtrack has some great cuts of local bands and is scored with a beautiful sounding instrument that is described in the commentary.

The DVD has a brief photo mantage, a director's commentary, and a music only track of the film. SPOILER: The artwork on the front of the DVD should be ignored as it contradicts the whole sequence of the film (the dog being in that shotgun scene).

This will be on my recommendation list, but judging from the theatrical release spread (2 screens) and no advertising budget, I am afraid it will get overlooked. June 29, 2008

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