Take Shelter is pretty goddamn intense, largely because it sucks you inside the stuttering consciousness of the taciturn, tense Curtis (Michael Shannon), a 35-year-old blue-collar worker in small-town Ohio who starts having some pretty goddamn intense dreams. Writer/director Jeff Nichols has a clever, merciless eye for what'll most effectively poke at and twist an audience; if nothing else, Take Shelter is a convincing trip into the head of someone who may or may not be going insane. Rooted deep inside Curtis, Nichols' film shudders with a propulsion powered by more than the sum of its parts: In chunks, Curtis' challenges seem manageable. In total, they're devastating. Some distracting CG aside, Nichols renders Curtis' fragmenting life in a way that's jarring, wearying, and heartbreakingly realistic. by Erik Henriksen