Shotgun Stories

Shotgun Stories follows three brothers in rural southeastern Arkansas whose estranged father dies after having abandoned them as children and built a new life and a second family. Son, Boy and Kid Hayes were raised by their mother in resentment toward their father's other sons, and when Son confronts that past at the funeral, long-simmering hostility between the two sets of half brothers breaks into open conflict. The dispute escalates as each side retaliates, forcing the brothers to weigh how far they will go for the families they have left.

The film is Jeff Nichols's first feature as director, and he also wrote and produced it, working with producers Lisa Muskat and David Gordon Green. Michael Shannon plays Son Hayes, with Douglas Ligon and Barlow Jacobs as his brothers; Michael Abbott Jr. and Travis Smith appear among the half brothers, and the credited cast runs to 53. It was released in 2007 and runs 92 minutes.

On IMDb it holds a critics' rating of 7.3/10 from 51 reviews, somewhat above its TMDB audience score of 6.9/10 from 222 votes, a gap suggesting reviewers responded more warmly than general viewers. Nichols went on to direct Take Shelter, Mud, Loving, Midnight Special and The Bikeriders.