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Michael Shannon, a Kentucky native and a seasoned Chicago stage actor, has always been that character actor that just draws you in, making you secretly yearn for the plot to suddenly follow his supporting character instead of the normal Hollywood titular lead.  Sort of like an early Harvey Keitel.

Shannon's latest role--a lead this time--in a marvelous film named "Shotgun Stories" will do more than just turn the heads of casual moviegoers (well, okay, more than your "casual" patron if they're wise enough to seek and find this film).  The film, which is a synthesis of the southern gothic and the american fable, showcases the year's best lead performance (so far) in Shannon and announces the birth of a gifted filmmaker: Jeff Nichols.

There are three brothers: Son, Kid and Boy.  They live together more or less.  One sleeps in a nearby van with his dog and the youngest sleeps in the backyard tent.  Son (Shannon) gets the house because, well, he has a son and a woman.  One day the woman and the son leave and the three brothers find themselves together more.  At places.  Restaurants.  The living room.

Hell, even their father's funeral.

It is here where it is my duty to stop.  The funeral brings some unexpected developments.  There are extended members of family introduced.  Some diabolical family background history is brought up.  But more importantly, in a carefully blocked scene near the casket of the father, notice the hierarchy of familial power visualized with Son and brothers standing over their hateful bloodline.

Of course, once the mechanisms of plot start going into the action, the revenge tale variables go up in the air.  Some die.  Yes.  Some get hurt.  Yes.  

All are saved?

Nichols and producer David Gordon Green ("Snow Angels") seem to want to think so, if one considers the preciousness given to each scene of these characters' rural lives that is not directly connected to the plot.  But I don't know if that answer is clear by the film's end.  It's for the viewer to decide.

What is clear is this: "Shotgun" has been doing the festival circuit for quite a bit now and only found its way in Chicago for a mere seven day run.  If you are fortunate enough to live in a city that is playing it, even if only briefly, you owe it to yourself to see it.

There.  It's that simple.