Shotgun Stories (2007)

91% of critics liked it
(43 reviews)
79% of users liked it
(2,953 ratings)

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),… More 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 Ligon). One day, Cleaman abandoned his wife and sons, and left them to survive in deep poverty that has trapped them to this day. Eventually Cleaman cleaned up his act, launched a successful business, married again, and raised four more sons -- Cleaman Jr. (Michael Abbott, Jr.), Mark (Travis Smith), Stephen (Lynsee Provence) and John (David Rhodes), all of whom were given the love and attention Cleaman denied his first three children. When Cleaman dies, all seven sons attend the funeral, and Son, overcome by bitterness, spits on his father's coffin and tells everyone how much he hated the man. Short tempered Mark answers Son with his fists, and a free-for-all breaks out between the two Hayes families. The anger and rivalry doesn't end at the end of the day, and soon a war has broken out between the clans, with no small amount of blood shed on either side. Shotgun Stories received its North American premiere at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 30 min.
Directed By: Jeff Nichols
Genres: Drama, Art House & International, Mystery & Suspense

In Theaters: Oct 12, 2007 Wide
On DVD: Jul 1, 2008
Studio: International Film Circuit

Critic Reviews

Eddie Cockrell, Variety
A precisely modulated yet cumulatively forceful story of a rural family feud turned deadly.
Maureen M. Hart, Chicago Tribune
Director Jeff Nichols lets the action unfold slowly following an impromptu insult, but the escalation of hatred and pain feels natural.
Joshua Katzman, Chicago Reader
... here there's also an undercurrent of biblical revenge that lends the narrative a sense of violent menace and an almost continuous tension.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Few films are so observant about how we relate with one another. Few are as sympathetic.
Michael Ordoña, Los Angeles Times
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.
Walter V. Addiego, San Francisco Chronicle
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.
Kelly Vance, East Bay Express
There is indeed something mythical, even scriptural, about the struggle among the seven Hayes brothers in Jeff Nichols' remarkable Shotgun Stories.
Leo Goldsmith, indieWIRE
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.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Good natural performances.
Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile
The credentials of many festival screenings might suggest to alert viewers that this isn't a shoot 'em up between two hill billy clans
Jeffrey Overstreet, Looking Closer
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.
Matthew Turner, ViewLondon
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.
Steve Rose, Guardian [UK]
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.
Bonnie Fazio, Reel.com
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.
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
I'm sick of the kind of exceptional that Shotgun Stories represents.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Cinematical
The real key to the film is the commanding Michael Shannon.
Brian Gibson, Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
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.
Robert W. Butler, Kansas City Star
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.
Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly
Jeff Nichols modern Western is laconic and lazily captivating, its silence slowly building to rage.

Read all 19 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Matthew S

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

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… More
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.
paul s

an interesting story that slowly developes amidst the cotton fields of rural Arkansas, Shotgun Stories is a tale of deepseated hatred and its eventual effects on the lives of two intertwined families. The drama and tension escalate with each encounter following the death of the man… More
an interesting story that slowly developes amidst the cotton fields of rural Arkansas, Shotgun Stories is a tale of deepseated hatred and its eventual effects on the lives of two intertwined families. The drama and tension escalate with each encounter following the death of the man who fathered both families (having walked out on the first, and then, finding religion, turned his life around - which does the first set of boys no good whatsoever). Raised to hate the "other" family by a cold hearted mother, the boys seem as listless as the dying town around them - unable to get past their torturous upbringing. A powerful performance by Shannon as Son, the eldest of the clan; an intelligent man with some serious flaws. The film is compelling in spite of the numerous fades to black; and the pacing tells the story at it's own southern drawl of a pace - and yet it succeeds for those same reasons. The middle son finally has had enough and ends the feud, reasoning that they all have family that they don't want to lose (and lives, for that matter, although in Boy's case you'd have to use that term very loosely). The malaise is almost palpable, and equally as important a statment as the feud that compels the action. The scene that kind of says it all concerning this film, comes when Son drives up to his mother's house and matter of factly tells her of the death of her youngest. She has no reaction whatsoever, as if she never cared about her children at all. Sensing this, Son lays the blame at her feet, telling her that it was she who raised her boys to hate the other family, and it has brought nothing but sorrow and destruction.
Luke B

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 films… More
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 films it is a subtle masterpiece. To see a film that makes you feel the emotions and relate to characters without any noticeable manipulation or build up is a testament to such great film making. No dramatic music or quick cuts. The actors say realistic things in realistic ways and we can perfectly empathise with both sets of brothers. Reminiscent of All the Real Girls in the way it treats as though the audience as grown ups.
Tim S

What a pussy of a revenge film! Look, I support idependent film as much as the next guy. Guy makes a movie for $500 on his cell phone, hoorah, go get 'em, I appreciate what you are doing. But from the looks of the cast (I don't get this Micheal Shannon fetish people have)… More
What a pussy of a revenge film! Look, I support idependent film as much as the next guy. Guy makes a movie for $500 on his cell phone, hoorah, go get 'em, I appreciate what you are doing. But from the looks of the cast (I don't get this Micheal Shannon fetish people have) and the cinematography, it looks like they had some money, so why the fuck couldn't they get some decent sound and at least one more guy who knew something about acting to fill in for the rest of the director's family members. The story started out as pretty interesting, but then falls flat. And everybody knows that the best basketball player to come out of Arkansas is Joe Johnson, you dipshits, not Corliss fucking Williamson.
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]In "Shotgun Stories," Son's(Michael Shannon) wife Annie(Glenda Parnell) has left him again due to his gambling. So, Son invites his brother Kid(Barlow Jacobs) in from a tent in the yard that he had been living in, so at least he can sleep on the… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "Shotgun Stories," Son's(Michael Shannon) wife Annie(Glenda Parnell) has left him again due to his gambling. So, Son invites his brother Kid(Barlow Jacobs) in from a tent in the yard that he had been living in, so at least he can sleep on the couch, now that he does not have to face her disapproval. Son also makes a point of asking his other brother Boy(Douglas Ligon), a youth basketball coach, if he would also like to sleep at his house instead of his van. None of this makes Annie happy when she returns. What makes Son happy is the news that his father has died. Of course, he has a funny way of showing this at his funeral by spitting at the coffin, infuriating his father's second family to no end.[/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Shotgun Stories" is a frustrating movie in that it has some good thoughts about family and the sins of the father coming back to haunt the next generation but the filmmaker does not have the skills to fully articulate his vision. The running question about mysterious scars was old when it was skewered in "The Big Fix" in 1978. And I am starting to have serious doubts about Michael Shannon's acting range. [/font] [font=Century Gothic]In trying to depict small town life in Arkansas, the movie relies on redneck stereotypes instead of creating three dimensional characterizations. All of the circumstances result from stupidity instead of economics.(Remember that Arkansas also gave us J. William Fulbright.) Son(notice the brothers' name) is the best off of his brothers, working full time at a fish hatchery, with a wife and a son, but he is still not smart enough to know when it comes to gambling, the house always wins in the end.[/font]
Jeffrey M

It occasionally suffers from its overly leisurely pace, but all in all there's a ton to admire in Shotgun Stories. The cast, spearheaded by the immensely talented Michael Shannon, is excellent, able to create a sense of sustained tension. Director Jeff Nichols (of Take Shelter… More
It occasionally suffers from its overly leisurely pace, but all in all there's a ton to admire in Shotgun Stories. The cast, spearheaded by the immensely talented Michael Shannon, is excellent, able to create a sense of sustained tension. Director Jeff Nichols (of Take Shelter fame) creates a very realistic atmospheric tone, giving the film a strong, albeit muted, dramatic quality. I also really appreciated the nuanced approach the film took on portraying the dynamics between the two families. Very strong debut for Nichols. 4/5 Stars
Alec B

It's tremendously slow approach creates some remarkable scenes that feel totally real. So many of the conversations are just so ordinary you'd think you were watching a documentary. It's a mistake to say that the movie is about forgiveness or vengeance in the normal… More
It's tremendously slow approach creates some remarkable scenes that feel totally real. So many of the conversations are just so ordinary you'd think you were watching a documentary. It's a mistake to say that the movie is about forgiveness or vengeance in the normal sense of the words. One family had a cruel father who abandoned them, the other had a kind religious father. Both of these fathers are the same man. One hates him, the other adores him. His death upsets each family's lives to a point were all their bitterness and anger come out in tremendously destructive ways. I wouldn't call it a perfect film, but I can't wait to see what Jeff Nichols does next as a director.
Christopher B

Outstanding revenge drama with excellent understated performances, especially Shannon. Like a modern Hatfield and McCoy showing the consequences and futility of revenge. Highly recommended.
matt s

Has some powerful scenes and just good straight-ahead storytelling. But the cold emotions didn't feel cold, they just felt pawned off due to the lacking cast. Don't get me wrong I love me some Barlow Jacobs, but I couldn't figure out if Michael Shannon was a badass or… More
Has some powerful scenes and just good straight-ahead storytelling. But the cold emotions didn't feel cold, they just felt pawned off due to the lacking cast. Don't get me wrong I love me some Barlow Jacobs, but I couldn't figure out if Michael Shannon was a badass or doing a Michael Biehn impression.