There's a fine line between accurately depicting underclass Southern life and descending to "rednexploitation," and Jeff Nichols' debut feature, Shotgun Stories, dances precariously on that line. The movie features a lot of men living in pup tents in their brothers' backyards, and margaritas mixed in blenders hooked up to car batteries, and conversations about how it's nice to take a date to a buffet restaurant, because it's "special." But Shotgun Stories is also well-plotted, with a strong lead performance by Michael Shannon, and a fair amount of authentic regional flavor. It isn't really meant to be a treatise on Southern life. At heart, it's a country-fried genre film, minus the peppery white gravy. Shannon plays the oldest of three brothers, all of whom were abandoned by their drunken father when they were young. (Dad's lack of commitment to his family is reflected in the names he stuck them with:.
- 4/3/2008
- by Noel Murray
- avclub.com
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