Shelter is a well-intentioned film that edges into misery porn. Hannah Jennifer Connelly and Tahir Anthony Mackie , homeless in New York, begin a relationship, and while it is sweet to see them stick up for each other, their backstories are never convincing — there seem to be steps missing on their road to where we meet them. Shelter is strongest when it allows its two protagonists dignity — and at its worst when it cruelly strips this dignity away. After countless trials, Hannah, on a harsh winter night, is understandably desperate for a place to stay, and a kindly security guard offers her a place in the boiler room of his building. Objectifying Hannah is unnecessary — we can feel for her struggles without seeing her reduced. Group Combined Shape. Combined Shape Group 2. Enter search below: Combined Shape.
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Two films about the squalor and despair of homelessness in the cruel, unforgiving streets of New York are two too many. Now actor Paul Bettany makes his debut as writer-director with Shelter, starring his wife Jennifer Connelly as a heroin addict and Anthony Mackie as an illegal immigrant from Nigeria who meet in the gutter while living on the street and fall in love. This movie is so raw and depressing that in one brutal scene Ms. Connelly is so desperate for a fix that she injects a hypodermic needle into her vagina. Reluctantly, against her better judgment, she allows herself to bond with a man who could be a real danger, to stay alive.
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Jennifer Connelly won an Oscar for her performance opposite Russell Crowe in the film "A Beautiful Mind" -- quite a different role from the one she plays in her latest film. Tracy Smith has our Sunday Profile:. In the new movie "Shelter," Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Connelly is a homeless heroin addict on the streets of New York City: dirty, emaciated, desperate, and almost too believable.
Shelter is a American drama film written and directed by Paul Bettany in his directorial debut. It was released on November 13, , by Screen Media Films. Tahir, an Illegal immigrant from Nigeria , and Hannah, a heroin addict , live homeless on the streets of Manhattan. Tahir, a devout Muslim who is polite to everyone he meets, survives by performing music in city parks, while Hannah lies, steals and sells her body to get her next fix. When Tahir saves Hannah from a suicide attempt, the two form a friendship. Over the year that follows, they share their pasts, and their friendship turns to love. Their circumstances begin to improve, but Tahir falls ill and eventually "joins" his wife and child who died in Nigeria.
