{"id":122,"date":"2008-04-11T12:15:10","date_gmt":"2008-04-11T17:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/?p=122"},"modified":"2021-08-26T09:29:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T14:29:57","slug":"shotgun-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/2008\/04\/11\/shotgun-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Shotgun Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Charles Burnett\u2019s family drama To Sleep With Anger<\/em> (1990), Harry, an old friend from the South, visits an African-American family in South Central Los Angeles and manages to wreak havoc in the process. At one point Harry disputes the fact that Hattie, a former prostitute who has found religion, is now a different person. Shotgun Stories<\/em> (2007), the stunning debut feature by Jeff Nichols about a family feud involving two different sets of half-brothers who have the same father, would seem to side with Harry by challenging the notion of personal transformation or the religious belief in redemption. Despite the fact that their father has managed to turn over a new leaf, he\u2019s left behind a smoldering cauldron of hatred, as embodied by Son Hayes (Michael Shannon) whose scars on his back suggest the permanence of deep psychic wounds. Shotgun Stories<\/em>, which was produced by David Gordon Green and Lisa Muskat, nominated for the John Cassavetes Award, and played\u00a0at the Wisconsin Film Festival, would seem to rest on the biblical premise that human actions have consequences.<\/p>\n

Shotgun Stories <\/em>begins with Son Hayes sitting in a semi-vacated bedroom in the scruffy landscape of rural southeast Arkansas. His two brothers \u2013 Kid (Barlow Jacobs) camps in a tent in the backyard, while Boy (Douglas Ligon) lives out of his truck \u2013 are dirt poor. As Son laments one evening as they hang out together in town, “We don\u2019t own the square root of shit.” When Son, an inveterate gambler, announces to Kid that his wife Annie has left him, Kid welcomes the opportunity to move into the house. Their mom turns up one evening with news about their father\u2019s death. At Son’s instigation, the three brothers interrupt the outdoor funeral service. Son tells the assembled second family, “This is the same man that ran out on us, that left us behind to be raised by a hateful woman. He made like we were never born. That\u2019s who this man was, and that\u2019s what he\u2019s answering for today.” He then spits on his casket, setting in motion the ensuing family feud.<\/p>\n

Referring to her born-again husband, the second wife tells her son, Cleaman (Michael Abbot Jr.), “He was a different man back then,” but her other son, Mark, comments about Son and his two brothers, “Those three are like a pack of dogs. You can\u2019t expect a dog to have manners,” suggesting the class difference that contributes to their enmity. Cleaman indicates that he has two kids, and that his other brothers \u2013 Stephen and John \u2013 don\u2019t need to be mixed up in this. Son also has a\u00a0young son, Carter; Kid has a girlfriend, Cheryl, whom he plans to marry; Boy serves as a basketball coach to young kids, even if the court sits plunk in the midst of a vast open field. One of his players innocently asks Boy, “Did you know that someone wrote \u2018suck it\u2019 on the back of your van?”<\/p>\n

In Michael Shannon\u2019s compelling yet understated portrayal of Son, he\u2019s a walking time bomb \u2013 animosity seems to flow through his veins, inflect his slow gait, and impede his capacity for speech. Son\u2019s co-workers at the fish farm where he\u2019s employed speculate on the shotgun scars that cover his back. There are rumors that they result from robbing a liquor store or messing with someone\u2019s wife. The conversations in Shotgun Stories<\/em> are for the most part composed of long silences and small talk, with Arkansas basketball and basketball trivia as favorite topics. Son and Kid later discuss love and faithfulness in a scene that seems right out of a film by David Gordon Green, whose influence on other young filmmakers has become markedly evident lately. Son\u2019s advice to Kid \u2013 to find a woman you love and love her \u2013 might carry more weight if Son wasn\u2019t already separated from his wife.<\/em><\/p>\n

Shampoo, a local drug dealer who wants to park his car on their property, is very much like Harry in To Sleep With Anger <\/em>in the sense that he exploits the inherent tensions of the situation. He stokes the flames of resentment by suggesting to Son that Mark plans to kick their butts. When the brothers meet in town, there\u2019s a confrontation in which Son punches Mark, causing a major ruckus that Boy tactfully avoids. Son later tells him, “That\u2019s the last time you stay out of a fight.” Cleaman attempts to make peace. Son merely responds, “I don\u2019t like you. I don\u2019t like your family.” He\u00a0threatens to retaliate if anything happens to his brothers.<\/p>\n

Boy\u2019s dog dies of a snakebite, but Kid learns from Shampoo that Mark was behind it. He grabs a wooden stick, tracks down Mark, and brutally beats him. We see a knife being flashed, and John and Stephen rushing to aid their brother. Both Mark and Kid end up dead. Once again, Shampoo relays the news that Stephen and John were actually involved. Son tells Boy, “They can take our daddy, good riddance, but they\u2019re not going to take Kid.” The feud escalates from there.<\/p>\n

Shotgun Stories<\/em> is very much a male story. The women merely stand by helplessly, unable to prevent the endless cycle of revenge. Cheryl asks, “Why is this happening?”At least Annie has the good sense to flee. When a person literally has nothing, hatred and an appetite for revenge can easily serve as one\u2019s identity. That\u2019s the case with Son, who places the blame squarely on his mother. In a wide shot, he tells her, “You raised us to hate those boys and we do. And now it\u2019s come to this.” There\u2019s no love or loyalty there, just a residue of inherited anger and hatred that will no doubt be passed on to Son\u2019s own boy, Carter.<\/p>\n

Despite its concern with violence and revenge, the film provides an even\u00a0greater emphasis on the everyday. Nichols, who grew up in Little Rock,\u00a0uses an anamorphic lens and the larger aspect ratio to capture the desolation of southeast Arkansas \u2013 its endless cotton fields, dirt roads, ramshackle houses, and empty main streets. Adam Stone\u2019s striking cinematography leaves an indelible impression of this unforgiving landscape, creating a tight nexus between character and place. This has always been both the strength and rationale of a regionally based independent cinema, which Shotgun Stories<\/em> so masterfully epitomizes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Charles Burnett\u2019s family drama To Sleep With Anger (1990), Harry, an old friend from the South, visits an African-American family in South Central Los Angeles and manages to wreak havoc in the process. At one point Harry disputes theRead More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":123,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4291,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122\/revisions\/4291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jjmurphyfilm.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}