Shotgun Stories: Difference between revisions

| producer = [[David Gordon Green]]<br>[[Lisa Muskat]]<br>Jeff Nichols

| gross = $168,237<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=shotgunstories.htm|title=Shotgun Stories|work=BoxOfficeMojo|date=|accessdate=1 October 2014}}</ref>

'''''Shotgun Stories''''' is a 2007 [[Drama (film and television)|drama film]] about a feud between two sets of half-brothers following the death of their father in rural [[Arkansas]]. The film was written and directed by [[Jeff Nichols]], and stars [[Michael Shannon]], Barlow Jacobs, Michael Abbott Jr. and Glenda Pannell.

Son Hayes ([[Michael Shannon]]) wakes up and gets dressed, revealing that he has scars from a shotgun blast on his back. He meets his younger brothers, Boy (Douglas Ligon) and Kid (Barlow Jacobs), who live in a van and a tent respectively, sayingtells them that his wife Annie has left him over his gambling habit, and invitinginvites them to live in his house. Son and Kid earn meager livings at a fish farm, where workers take bets on how Son received his scars; Boy is an unsuccessful basketball coach at the local middle school. One night, while Son is researching his gambling system, the boys' estranged mother arrives to announce that their estranged father (from whom she has long been divorced) has just died.

The brothers crash the funeral, where their father's second family is mourning. Son delivers a scathing commentary on their father, especially for callously abandoning them to be raised by their hateful mother, while going off to lovingly raise a second set of sons meanwhile, forgetting, for the most part, his first set of sons. In the process, Son nearly starts a brawl with his four half-brothers. The eldest half-brother, Mark (Travis Smith), vows revenge and starts a chain of violent confrontations. Meanwhile, Annie returns and tries to salvage her relationship with Son, but Son is unwilling to give up gambling. Kid plans on marrying his girlfriend, Cheryl, should he get an expected raise, but worries about providing for her and staying faithful. After Mark kills Boy's dog by leaving a poisonous snake in its water bowl, Kid attacks and kills Mark, but is himself severely injured in the fight and dies in the hospital. Son and Boy are unaware that Mark's brothers Stephen and John were involved in the fight until after Kid's funeral, when an acquaintance named Shampoo tells them. Son then goes to their mother, who is coldly indifferent to everything that is happening, to inform her that Kid has just died, while condemning her for raising her sons to be full of hate toward their half-brothers, before leaving her for the last time.

* Cleaman Hayes – [[Michael Abbott Jr.]]

''Shotgun Stories'' has received generally favorablepositive reviews, earning aan 9190% "Certified Fresh" rating at [[Rotten Tomatoes]] from 4449 reviews, with an average rating of 7.23/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Thanks to a talented cast and its uncommon depth, Nichols' debut manages to rise above its overly familiar plot."<ref>{{cite web|title=Shotgun Stories (2007)|publisher=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shotgun_stories/ Rotten Tomatoes: Shotgun Stories}}</ref>

It appeared on several critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Bill White of the ''[[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]]'' named it the best film of 2008, Philip Martin of the ''[[Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]]'' named it the 3rdthird best film of 2008, [[David Edelstein]] of [[New York (magazine)|''New York'' magazine]] named it the 8theighth best film of 2008, and [[Roger Ebert]] of ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' named it one of the best films of the year.<ref name=mctop08>{{cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/film/awards/2008/toptens.shtml |title=Metacritic: 2008 Film Critic Top Ten Lists |publisher=[[Metacritic]] |accessdate=January 11, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090102205252/http://www.metacritic.com/film/awards/2008/toptens.shtml |archive-date=January 2, 2009 }}</ref>

[[Category:2000s2007 drama films]]

[[Category:DirectorialFilms debutproduced filmsby David Gordon Green]]

[[Category:2000s English-language films]]

[[Category:AmericanVertigo Films films]]