Take Shelter, DVD review - Telegraph History may well mark this riveting psychological thriller as criminally under-acknowledged at this year's Oscars and other major awards ceremonies. That great actor Michael Shannon (Boardwalk Empire, Revolutionary Road) brings his brand of lantern-jawed intensity to the role of Curtis, a cash-strapped family man and building site worker in Ohio, troubled by apocalyptic visions in the form of looming tornados. So extreme is his anxiety that he starts renovating a storm shelter in his back yard to protect his family (his loyal, uncomprehending wife, played radiantly by Jessica Chastain, and his hearing-impaired young daughter) from the impending horror. His panic spurs him to impulsive actions that jeopardise his job There's a big question here, and it's one writer-director Jeff Nichols is no hurry to answer: is Curtis simply delusional? From a scene with his mother (Kathy Baker), we learn there is schizophrenia in his family. Or are his deep fears symptomatic of the economic anxieties suffered by millions of other Americans living close to the breadline? Brilliantly, Nichols keeps both theories in play right to the end, and his film stays faithful to that ambiguity; while its script takes time to detail Curtis's financial problems, the harsh beauty of this semi-rural region is also painstakingly depicted. Shots of wind languidly rustling trees confirm Nichols as a Terrence Malick disciple. However one reads its enigmatic ending, this is a caustic account of blue-collar America, post-9/11 and post-recession: unhappy, fearful of poverty and seized by catastrophic apprehension. If you think of Take Shelter as a weather forecast, it's a gloomy one.