The opening sequences of Ramin Bahrani’s “99 Homes” take the audience to the place of one of the main epicenters during the housing crisis, Florida.
Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) struggles to support his son and mother, Conner (Noah Lomax) and Lynn (Laura Dern), while attempting to save his home from foreclosure. Unfortunately, time runs out when Rick Carver (Shannon) shows up reinforced by police, ordering to evacuate their home. This is the basis of many of the events in the film, and the horrifying reality for many families during the housing crisis.
Without a home, the family temporarily settles in a motel alongside other tenants in the same predicament. Life becomes unsettling in the new arrangement, Conner doesn’t adjust well in a new school and Dennis is unable to find work until he coincidently comes face to face with Rick Carver again. Carver offers Dennis work, and slowly he adopts the corrupt work ethics that put his family out of their home.
The drama portrays the stark reality of not only the housing market, but many economic systems as well – to either play the game or let the game play you, and the unsettling thoughts that greed and wealth can impose on morale. Dennis begins to become the very person who kicked him out of his home until he finally realizes the saddest thing in the world is not of poverty, but loss of dignity.
The dramatic impositions of the movie are so horrifyingly realistic and relatable that it makes other generic Hollywood themes seem irrelevant. The film is both powerful and impactful in the way that it evokes emotion that is universally relatable, losing the place with so many personal memories and sentiments. In addition, it elevates the socio-economic condition of our society to a new and wider level, making it not only a film of drama and tragedy, but also a topic of conversation.
The film hits theaters September 25.
