Shotgun Stories is a sadly ignored film. Though it treads similar paths as many revenge films, Shotgun Stories is the quiet one nobody notices. Like all good revenge films it shows the tragic escalation of violence and the terrifying cyclical nature of it. Unlike other revenge fi...( read more)
Barlow Jacobs, Cole Hendrixson, Coley Canpany
Shotgun Stories tracks a feud that erupts between two sets of half brothers following the death of their father. Set against the cotton fields and back roads of Southeast Arkansas, these brothers disc...( read more
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DVD Release Date: July 1, 2008
Stats: 299 reviews
Your Rating
Flixster Reviews (299)
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January 30, 2009
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December 25, 2008
A movie that wants to take its own time. No attempt at any sort of memorable cinematic drama. Just a slow story that's exceedingly realistic in its narrative. Not a very rewardin endin, though.
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July 24, 2008
"You raised us to hate those boys, and we do. And now it's come to this."
rejected by major film distributors, it was saved by the festival circuit. thank god for small favors. this film is a quiet, sympathetic, and subtle triumph about how we relate with one another. -
June 11, 2008
Having been ignored and pushed aside by big studios and distributers, and overshadowed by big money makers, Jeff Nichols Shotgun Stories has gotten limited release. As much as I enjoy finding the hidden gems, it always makes me a little bit sad to see a film so great passed over...( read more)
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January 24, 2009
Outstanding revenge drama with excellent understated performances, especially Shannon. Like a modern Hatfield and McCoy showing the consequences and futility of revenge. Highly recommended.
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October 10, 2009
Sparse. Bleak. It never does anything more than it needs to and to great effect.
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September 23, 2009
Jeff Nichols' Southern Gothic melodrama concerns a blood feud which has its roots in the past and spirals down through time, infecting the lives and minds of an entire family, soiling the present and almost claiming the future. The film concerns two sets of half-brothers in a rus...( read more)
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July 4, 2009
A quiet character study about the feud that comes to the surface after a father of several children dies in rural Arkansas.
A man has three children, treats them and his spouse like shit for many years, then divorces, moves ACROSS TOWN basically, finds God, remarries and has fou...( read more) -
May 24, 2009
Timmy hates it, Jerf loves it. The truth lies somewhere in between. The problem with some indie films, as with this one, is that it's a good story that should take no more than an hour to tell, but the filmmakers need to stretch it out to make that 90 minute milestone. Don't g...( read more)
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April 30, 2009
Michael Shannon stars in this slow-moving revenge story filmed largely in my hometown of England, Arkansas. Kinda bummed though that I didn't get a cameo in this. I would have been a natural.
Critic Reviews
Shotgun Stories has a flawless cast, but it's the peculiarity of Michael Shannon that keeps it from becoming too obvious. full review
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