There is much to "Shotgun Stories" that elevates it above the fray of Green derivatives and unflattering categorizations, bolstered by a roster of naturalistic, fully assimilated performances, led by "Bug"'s now ubiquitous Michael Shannon.

A precisely modulated yet cumulatively forceful story of a rural family feud turned deadly.

Set in rural Arkansas, Jeff Nichols' relaxed, distinctive debut revels in the milieu of its redneck characters, but injects their rural half-blood feud with an almost mythic quality.

Comparisons to Bob Rafelson's Five Easy Pieces and David Cronenberg's A History of Violence might seem overblown, but they're not that far off the mark, and those weren't debuts (though Rafelson's only previous movie was the Monkees oddity Head).