A man's home is his castle, and if you mess with that prepare to face the consequences. When the housing crisis hit, many saw their family homes, some that had been in the family for generations, stolen out from under them. It wasn't all just a blip of the market, either; it was a wealthy few who knew how to game the system, and if a few million lives got wrecked in the process then so be it. Sounds like a hot topic for a film, right? Especially when put in the hands of a director like Ramin Bahrani (At Any Price), and starring a cast led by Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon. Fortunately, we got that in 99 Homes, and the first trailer for it is here.
Garfield plays Dennis Nash, a struggling father living with his young son and mother (Laura Dern) in their family home, until a charismatic real estate magnate (Shannon) swoops in forecloses on it. With nothing else to do, Nash is forced to work for the man who stole everything from him, and do to others what was done to him. It's a tough film that will hit very close to home, and I enjoyed it immensely at Sundance earlier this year. Mae liked it, too, calling it "an emotionally riveting tale of consequences, lawlessness and piggybacking off of the people who are used and abused by the system."
99 Homes hits theaters on September 25th, and I'd really like to see both Shannon and Garfield get some awards notices. We shall see.
