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With the fire of a classic Greek tragedy, but with an attune eye for the real world, Jeff Nichols’ debut feature is a rare film that keeps you guessing and marveling from beginning to end. Great drama can move you to the edge of your seat just like a thriller and SHOTGUN STORIES does just that. The brother-against-brother feud at the center allows us to see the nature of its characters, while giving us a peek into their dark pasts and hopefully a potential future better than the current state they are in.

Sonny Hayes (Michael Shannon, WORLD TRADE CENTER) has a quiet emotionless demeanor even when he is about to beat someone. He sees things in his life very clearly and matter-of-fact, sometimes to a fault, putting up blinders to the harm he may be causing. His wife Annie (Glenda Pannell, JUST THE TWO OF US) has moved out with his young son, Carter (Cole Hendrixson), because he lost $200 gambling again. To him it’s not gambling, because he has a system. This allows Sonny to invite his younger brothers to move back in with him. The youngest Kid (Barlow Jacobs, GREAT WORLD OF SOUND) has been living in a tent in Sonny’s backyard, while Boy (Douglas Ligon, film debut) literally lives in a van down by the river.

Their mother Nicole (Natalie Canerday, SLING BLADE) walks over one night to tell them that their father has died. Since leaving their mother, he found Jesus, got sober, remarried and raised four other sons in a more stable middle-class home. Son, Kid and Boy show up at the funeral and words are said that provoke the four half-brothers, which their mother raised them to hate. Mark (Travis Smith) is the most prone to turn the feud bloody, while Cleaman (Michael Abbott Jr., film debut) is more ready to put his family responsibilities before revenge. The youngest of the half-brothers, Stephen (Lynnsee Provence, THE GIFT) and John (David Rhodes), seem all too eager to prove their toughness to Stephen. So the insult at the funeral leads to a fight that leads to a death that leads to more blood being shed. As the tit for tat battle escalates, we learn more and more about the three original Hayes brothers and how their father’s cruelty affected them.

Some films are influenced by other films, this film is influenced by life. While the main focus is on the three brothers, Nichols presents us supporting characters that surprise us as well. Right when you think a minor cliché may be coming it deftly sidesteps it. The writing is so good that it opens our eyes to conventional ways of presenting characters that we might not have even noticed before. Additionally, Nichols injects nice humorous character moments into the dark tale. Shampoo (G. Alan Wilkins) is a bit of local color that makes the three brothers look like they have their lives together in comparison. Boy is truly a lazy bum, but he’s never made clownish. He lives in his car because he’d have to get a part-time job during the summer if he got an apartment. During the school year, he teaches gym at the middle school and coaches the boy’s basketball team.

It’s those details about the brothers that make the film so rich. The feud just allows us to see their wounds. Take notice to the scene where Kid finally talks to Son about marrying his girlfriend, or what motivates the brothers to act after certain deaths, this goes to the heart of what the film is about. I can see why director David Gordon Green co-produced this film, because Nichols shares the same Southern Gothic style as Green’s work. Marked by natural dialogue and subtle character development, and driven by a richly dramatic premise, few films this year will electrify the screen like this one does, because few films ever do. SHOTGUN STORIES can be as delicate as silk and as powerful as a load of buckshot to the back at the same time.

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