[dropcap style="font-size: 60px; color: #9b9b9b;"] T [/dropcap] ake Shelter is a blend between Twister, Signs, Field of Dreams and a touch of Close Encounters. It’s the story of a man with a family history of mental illness who lives a rather mundane life until a series of meteorological/paranormal events begin to rock his world. Like Twister, Michael Shannon’s life is suddenly surrounded by Midwestern tornado activity. Like Signs, he sees things that others in town do not and he quickly becomes convinced that disaster is looming. Like Field of Dreams and Kevin Costner, Shannon starts making uneconomic decisions to protect him and his family. And like Close Encounters, Shannon seems driven to manic behavior by some super-natural force while those around him try to talk him down off the ledge.

Jeff Nichols, a mostly unknown talent, both wrote and directed this film. Itis a fine effort, which was very well cast with Shannon as the pensive and deeply troubled protagonist. Jessica Chastain of The Help and The Debt plays Shannon’s wife with all the confusion and angst that any wife would have of a husband exhibiting erratic behavior. Naturally, a common theme in these paranormal adult quandary stories, is the presence of an innocent child that can see the obvious that is less visible to the others, Tova Stewart plays Shannon’s handicapped daughter.

Savants are an important part of life and may be an even more important part of investing. They see things the rest of us miss. In that way we need to pay extra attention to them as aberrant as they may seem. Perhaps they see the black swans just like Shannon sees the swarming and erratically flying black birds. And just like Shannon finds out, you can run but you can’t hide when nature wants to throw a disaster your way.