99 Homes

99 Homes

The margins of the increasingly unrealistic “mainstream” life provide the American Dream as seen through the eyes of Ramin Bahrani, who makes films about it: immigrant, child, transplant or damaged people (such as that played by Red West in Goodbye Solo). Most of these individuals still hold on to the idea that they can achieve the American Dream. They wish, work hard and make plans. Nonetheless this has not been successful for them. No other time has seen such a shattered system like Bahrani’s new movie “99 Homes” featuring Michael Shannon, Andrew Garfield and Laura Dern.

In 99 Homes throughout its running time Rick Carver (Shannon) says “Don’t get emotional about real estate”, while helping to evict people after they fail to pay up their bank debts. However pratical this advice may be given the crash in economy and housing crisis; it is also cruel. To Rick Carver, Real Estate is synonymous with money and opportunity whereas it means home for everyone else; what can be more humanly sensitive than home?

It opens with one brutal eviction sequence shot in one take. While sheriff department swarms all over a house under his direction, Rick Carver watches blood spatter against a bathroom wall when a resident commits suicide. He smokes an electric cigarette which glows blue while dressed in an ill fitting blue suit man with shark eyes.

This part of the story then shifts into Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield), a young single mother whose husband recently left her and their son Connor (Noah Lomax) behind living at his parent’s house which is also a family business since his mother washes hairs from there and dies construction but there are no jobs available anymore because nobody builds anymore so there are lots of bills to pay off In danger of losing their residence.

Dennis went to court in order to seek additional time however he tried approaching some pro bono lawyers. Dennis goes to court to fight for more time, he tries to get a lawyer to work pro bono.

Finally the day of reckoning has come. They appear together with a group of sheriffs and deputies who are there to evict them led by Rick. In what turns out to be a chilling scene that grows increasingly desperate as Dennis’ mother and he cry out in protest against him, Rick drawls “This isn’t your house anymoe son.”

The ensuing fight is acted and filmed with almost unbearable immediacy (cinematographer Bobby Bukowski does superb work throughout). Within two minutes they are hyperventilating as the family piles whatever they can into the back of a pick-up truck while others pile their belongings into or on top of other vehicles parked around it in order to head for one cheap motel after another where people in the same situation live already; “we’ve been here two years now,” says somebody there.

Dennis will do whatever it takes to get his house back including accepting a job construction for Rick, whom he hates. It is a deal with the devil and all that this connotes. Dennis gets sucked into Carver’s circle of easy money and shady deals. There is very little time between the two events, since after evictions in the other side he finds himself standing on the door way waiting for confused angry residents to vacate. Masterful are these door-to-door sequences. These people don’t appear (though they could be) as professional actors; their reactions are so raw and real. The audience becomes like voyeurs and eavesdroppers into humans’ lowest moments.

“99 Homes” operates like a thriller (from its stunning opening one-take sequence), with elements of melodrama to heighten the stakes. (Some of the melodramatic elements don’t work as well as the rest, relying, as they do, on coincidence, racing against the clock, etc; the reality is horrifying enough.) This long feature film has been held together by Antony Partos and Matteo Zingales’ ominous original score which runs under almost every scene for “99 Homes”.

“99 Homes” represents a shift for Bahrani who had previously made small scale dramas characterized by a lot of hand held camera work and naturalistic approach. “99 Homes” looks great and has an attitude bold mood with attention-getting shots like that opener plus a couple aerial shots showing homes stretched out below. To those on the ground; however, homes look generic from such vantage point.

Throughout Andrew Garfield seems constantly panicked that his manhood duties have failed him; he catches breaths in his throat anxiously ready to spring anywhere. Dennis feels overwhelmed but doesn’t want go there now because he knows how short life is especially life in his situation.

His only goal now becomes getting his house back while under the abyss of a permanent instability affecting him and his family. Bahrani keeps that heat turned up in the machinations of the plot, as Carver seduces Dennis with offers of wealth (meaning, in Carver’s world, self-respect). “America doesn’t bail out losers,” Carver tells Nash. “America bails out winners.”

Michael Shannon is vicious but also sometimes gentle toward his character that appears beyond redemption. Carver tells Dennis about his background; how he grew up poor with a father who was a roofer and worked construction himself. He used to put people into homes before the crash. It’s not like he chose for it to be his job now, throwing people away from home. Someone such as Rick Carver would always exist during any tough economic time that makes more money off the bust than boom period. The performance is very truthful.

Bahrani’s films are like those by Jafar Panahi that predominantly focus on marginalized populations hence critique of “mainstream,” this concept itself. If mainstream is going to exist at all then it must stretch its limitations wider than this. Bahrani’s films demand from their audiences immediate attention towards our world and everything happening around us. His films scream: Look! See!

Rather than making “message” movies Bahrani does this by concentrating on individual characters; such as, a Pakistani former singer now pushing a food cart in Manhattan (“Man Push Cart,”), a little Latino boy working in an auto-body shop (“Chop Shop,”) or the optimistic Senegalese-American who drives a cab and dreams of being a flight attendant (“Goodbye Solo”). By doing so, Bahrani critiques American life its economy, class divisions, assumptions and social strata. He is also concerned with humanity like Panahi. The only thing that counts is personal dignity.

“99 Homes” fiercely uncovers what home really means, the desperation of real estate, pride of ownership and belongingness to stability. This movie never slows down one bit. It is almost impossible for somebody to get back up after falling below the mainstream line. These are some survivors struggling to stay alive.

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