99 Homes (2014) [Blu-ray]
Drama
In this timely thriller, when single father Dennis Nash (Golden Globe nomiee Andrew Garfield) is evicted from his home, his only chance to win it back is to go to work for Rick Carver (Academy Award nomiee Michael Shannon), the charismatic and ruthless
businessman who evicted him in the first place. It's a deal-with-the-devil that provides security for his family; but as Nash falls deeper into Carver's web, he finds his situation grows more brutal and dangerous than he ever imagined.
Storyline: Around the world everyone knows that honest hard work gets you nowhere. In sunny Orlando, Florida, construction worker Dennis Nash learns this the hard way when he is evicted from his home by a charismatic, gun-toting
real-estate broker, Rick Carver. Humiliated and homeless, Nash has no choice but to move his mom and nine-year old son into a shabby, dangerous motel. All is lost. Until an unexpected opportunity arises for Nash to strike a deal with the devil - he begins
working for Carver in a desperate attempt to get his home back. Carver seduces Nash into a risky world of scamming and stealing from the banks and the government; he teaches Nash how the rich get richer. Living a double life, Nash hides his new boss and
job from his family. He rises fast and makes real money; he dreams bigger. But there is a cost. On Carver's orders, Nash must evict honest families from their homes - just as it happened to him. Nash's conscience starts tearing him apart... but his son
needs a home. In a dramatic high stakes climax, with a 1,000 home deal on the line, Nash will have to choose between destroying an honest man for the ultimate win or risking it all by going against Carver and finding redemption.
Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Brian Orndorf, April 27, 2016 After building a name for himself with low-budget films such as "Goodbye Solo" and "Man Push Cart," writer/director Ramin Bahrani graduated to more high-profile fare with
2013's "At Any Price," starring Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron. A tale of farmland woe and family sin, the feature was a melodramatic disaster, punishing audiences with ridiculously broad performances and absurd writing. Bahrani recovers a bit of his old mojo
with "99 Homes," which surveys the state of the nation in 2010 as it deals with a ruined housing market and destitute owners. It's a movie about the acid burn of morality in the face of financial reward, and Bahrani has the right idea during the picture's
early moments, which pinpoint the shame, horror, and emotional violence of eviction in a deeply disturbing manner. The rest of "99 Homes" doesn't reach the same level of authenticity, finding Bahrani returning to old habits as subtlety is replaced by
opera, ruining the primal scream of the effort.
Unable to find jobs as a construction worker in Orlando, Florida, Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) is scrambling to cover his debts, losing faith as unemployment seems impossible to defeat. Unable to save his home from foreclosure, Nash is soon faced with
the cold-blooded wrath of Rick Carver, a real estate agent who works with the banks, collecting property for his business needs. Taking son Connor (Noah Lomax) and mother Lynn (Laura Dern, who deserves better than this) to a local extended stay hotel to
work out a plan to buy back the family dwelling, Nash finds himself confronted by Carver once again, but this time a job offer arises, with the agent tempting the desperate man with financial stability in exchange for doing dirty work. Helping Carver
evict families and work the system, Nash finds himself making more money than ever before, but this transition is costing him a soul, with one eviction target, Frank (Tim Guinee), complicating the new hire's work and triggering his guilt.
The opening scenes of "99 Homes" are the most effective, following Nash as he faces an unsympathetic system ready to take his home away from his family. He loses an appeal in court, steamrolled by an impatient judge, and his job is disappearing, unable to
find steady construction work in Orlando, coming home to Connor and Lynn -- two loved ones he's trying to protect, dismissing their interest in the deteriorating financial situation. The eviction sequence is heartbreaking to watch, studying the chilling
procedural tone of the confrontation, with Carter and rent-a-cops deflecting pleas for mercy, repeatedly proclaiming their loyalty to the law. It's pure agony and humiliation, generating an exact feeling of personal loss that's rare to find in cinema.
Bahrani creates intimacy with the characters, exposing their desperation as Nash and his family are pulled out of their home, pushed to the street with their belongings, collected by practiced repossession thieves. It's an incredible way to introduce the
relationships in "99 Homes," but it's also a chest-tightening event Bahrani is unable to replicate for the duration of the picture.
America certainly needs a movie like "99 Homes," which provides a frightening reminder of daily life for the less fortunate, watching good, solid families mangle financial battles and suffer crippling losses, with suicide showcased here as popular option
for the hopeless. Bahrani has a chance to pore over both sides of the argument, inspecting the plight of the hardworking homeowner who can't catch a break, trying to keep children fed and the lights on, and there's Carter's way, with the numbed
professional working the system in full, trying to communicate to clients the pitfalls of debt. However, "99 Homes" is not an academic study of the housing crisis, it's a dramatic take on it, and Bahrani is ready to vilify Carter for his predatory ways,
turning the character into an immaculately tailored, vaping ghoul who gets off on the power the job provides him, barking orders at his minions while juggling two women and multiple homes he's preparing to flip. Shannon is terrific in the role, but he's
visibly trying to keep Carter on a short leash, fighting Bahrani on broader points of evildoing, maintaining a perspective of longstanding experience (he's heard all the sob stories) as the screenplay gradually fits the real estate agent for a black hat.
Carter is no saint, but the realism of his slick ways (scoring properties with a "cash for keys" program that gives underwater homeowners a fast way out of their problems) is much more interesting than the evil amplification the screenplay ultimately
gives him.
The war between authenticity and cinema wreaks havoc with "99 Homes" in its second half, watching Nash rise up in the ranks, happily following Carter's lead with land deals and nerve-shredding evictions, receiving extraordinary financial reward for his
duties. Again, the moral fluidity presented here is fascinating, studying Nash's mental process as he tries to justify his actions while pulling scared people out of their homes. Bahrani makes a point of weariness by showcasing the elderly, immigrants,
and infants as they lose their shelter with nowhere to go, with Nash clinging to what remains of his conscience with Frank, trying to aid a lost man in a familiar situation of forced relocation. Sadly, the complexity of the job and Nash's point of view is
gradually flattened into a "deal with the Devil" plot, while on-the-nose dialogue waters down the potency of the story, simplifying a monumentally difficult situation of submission and awareness.
The final act of "99 Homes" twists Nash's experience with the business into unwelcome melodrama, with Bahrani cheating his way to a resolution by making Carter a legitimate villain instead of playing more ambiguous beats of law-bending. It's deflating,
especially when the first hour of the feature finds nuance and internalized pain with ease. What begins as a harrowing study of the death of the American Dream soon becomes a bland network television drama, topped off with gunplay, defined moral choices,
and a type of karmic balance. There's so much here to dissect and debate, but Bahrani isn't brave enough to follow through on early promises, suddenly trying to make a particularly itchy mood of emotional unrest digestible for all audiences.
[CSW] -3.4- These two reviewer said it better than I could: 99 HOMES should be seen by everyone in this country -- not only because of the incredible script and acting performances -- but because it depicts, better than anything else
I've seen (along with Too Big To Fail - HBO) what happened and in many cases continues to happen to the middle class in America. I was a realtor during this period -- got out largely because of what I saw and could do nothing to change -- regarding
Foreclosures and Short Sales. I dealt with Banks. I saw this happen and refused to be a part of it. The final scene - courtroom and confrontation between the home owner and police and realtor was so difficult for me to watch -- because it was all True!!!
Incredible -- it could have been a Michael Moore documentary scene caught on camera for public view. The actors are fantastic. The earlier scene with the older gentleman who was evicted had me in tears. I personally witnessed similar circumstances and
hope people watch this movie and vote with their hearts to prevent this from happening again. Bravo to Garfield, the fabulous Michael Shannon, director Bahrani and writer. Bravo!!!!
So how does a guy end up working for the man who just threw him
out of his house? I guess truth is stranger than fiction because this is all based on a true story and is entirely plausible. It's a classic "deal with the Devil" and the movie shows us all the gut and heart-wrenching consequences that follow. I wouldn't
say the acting is over-the -top, the actors simply rise to the demands of the material. So be warned. There's no middle ground on this issue. If you love moral dilemmas you won't be disappointed.
The "How Thing Work" as portrayed in this movie was important and added half a point to my score.
[V4.5-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box.
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