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Shotgun Stories

Shotgun Stories (2007)

tomatometer

91

Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 43
Fresh: 39 | Rotten: 4

Thanks to a talented cast and its uncommon depth, Nichols' debut manages to rise above its overly familiar plot.

90

Average Rating: 7.1/10
Critic Reviews: 10
Fresh: 9 | Rotten: 1

Thanks to a talented cast and its uncommon depth, Nichols' debut manages to rise above its overly familiar plot.

audience

79

liked it
Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 2,953

My Rating

Movie Info

Two families linked by the same father explode into a violent rivalry in this independent Southern gothic drama, the first feature from director Jeff Nichols. Cleaman Hayes lived and died in Little Rock, AR, where he had seven sons by two different women. After wedding Nicole (Natalie Canerday), Cleaman sired three sons, and his lack of concern for their future was reflected in the fact he barely gave them names -- they were dubbed Son (Michael Shannon), Kid (Barlow Jacobs) and Boy (Douglas

Jul 1, 2008

International Film Circuit

Cast

All Critics (44) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (39) | Rotten (4) | DVD (2)

A precisely modulated yet cumulatively forceful story of a rural family feud turned deadly.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Director Jeff Nichols lets the action unfold slowly following an impromptu insult, but the escalation of hatred and pain feels natural.

July 9, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | Comment
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

... here there's also an undercurrent of biblical revenge that lends the narrative a sense of violent menace and an almost continuous tension.

June 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Few films are so observant about how we relate with one another. Few are as sympathetic.

June 6, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Shotgun Stories is a cautionary tale about revenge, but more than that, it is a beautiful, authentic-feeling portrait of a family and a place.

April 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | Comment
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

An austere rural landscape, festering hatred, class tensions, terse dialogue -- these are common currency in indie movies these days. Shotgun Stories uses them all, but manages to stand out from the crowd.

April 4, 2008 Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | Comment
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic IconTop Critic

There is indeed something mythical, even scriptural, about the struggle among the seven Hayes brothers in Jeff Nichols' remarkable Shotgun Stories.

April 28, 2011 Full Review Source: East Bay Express | Comment
East Bay Express

There is much to "Shotgun Stories" that elevates it above the fray of Green derivatives and unflattering categorizations, bolstered by a roster of naturalistic, fully assimilated performances, led by "Bug"'s now ubiquitous Michael Shannon.

August 8, 2009 Full Review Source: indieWIRE | Comment
indieWIRE

Good natural performances.

February 16, 2009 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

The credentials of many festival screenings might suggest to alert viewers that this isn't a shoot 'em up between two hill billy clans

December 4, 2008 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | Comment
Urban Cinefile

Like Malick, Nichols knows that the sight of a combine transforming an Arkansas cotton field into an apocalyptic dust storm is as eloquent as anything his characters might say.

November 26, 2008 Full Review Source: Looking Closer | Comment
Looking Closer

Brilliantly acted, superbly directed and beautifully shot, this is a gripping drama that really gets under your skin and marks writer-director Jeff Nichols out as a talent to watch.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: ViewLondon | Comment
ViewLondon

Set in rural Arkansas, Jeff Nichols' relaxed, distinctive debut revels in the milieu of its redneck characters, but injects their rural half-blood feud with an almost mythic quality.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | Comment
Guardian [UK]

Writer/director Jeff Nichols is one to watch. He has fashioned a simple but powerful cautionary tale, equal parts Southern Gothic and Greek tragedy, and has given a familiar kind of material a fresh spin.

October 18, 2008 Comment
Reel.com

I'm sick of the kind of exceptional that Shotgun Stories represents.

September 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | Comment
Film Freak Central

The real key to the film is the commanding Michael Shannon.

August 5, 2008 Full Review Source: Cinematical | Comment
Cinematical

The end reveals just how poetic, shifting and dazzling Nichols' touch was all along. That's because Shotgun Stories manages to pull away from a hair-trigger resolution with the same inherent right-ness that loaded the story with such tragic force.

July 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada) | Comment
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)

This low-key yarn about lowbrow men isn't for everyone. But whatever its faults and limitations, Shotgun Stories casts a spell unlike any other movie we've seen in ages.

June 20, 2008 Comment
Kansas City Star

Jeff Nichols modern Western is laconic and lazily captivating, its silence slowly building to rage.

May 15, 2008 Full Review Source: I.E. Weekly | Comment (1)
I.E. Weekly
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Shotgun Stories

A masterpiece of the rural southern U.S. and the nearly uncontrollable, circular nature of violence and prejudice.

May 10, 2012
Matthew Slaven

Super Reviewer

You can tell that Jeff Nichols loves Days of Heaven! This film bleeds complexity in its simple characters and shows off its cinematography. The downside is that Nichols cuts out any trace of action that may entertain a mainstream audience. For film makers and lovers of a deep character studies, this film is classic.

December 27, 2011
paul o.
paul oh

Super Reviewer

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