Review of 99 Homes (2015) by Jessica T — 01 Jan 2016

Gripping, tense, timely and topical, Ramin Bahrani's "99 Homes" offers an incisive examination of a flawed economic system.

Desperate and recently unemployed, construction worker Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) starts working for the cutthroat real-estate broker (Michael Shannon) who evicted him, his mother (Laura Dern) and young son (Noah Lomax) from their family home.

"99 Homes" tells a story similar to Michael Moore's "Capitalism: A Love Story," but with an intentional and effective dramatic arc. The film begins with the abrupt and distressing eviction of the Nashs, who have failed to keep up with mortgage payments. Predatory and opportunistic investor Rick Carver is there to pick up the pieces (literally helping the Nashs carry out belongings, and figuratively ready to buy and flip their house for a profit). Nash and his family have no choice but to move into a motel along with other families who have had their homes foreclosed.

When Nash discovers that some of his tools are missing, he suspects that one of Carver's employees stole them during the eviction and goes to confront him. Carver is impressed with Nash's tenacity and offers him employment - menial construction tasks at first, but soon enough, Carver starts training Nash to be his protégé. Nash desperately needs the money to feed his family and to buy back his house from Carver, so he agrees. But he is also tempted by Carver's wealth and luxury, and begins to cross ethical boundaries to fill his pockets. It becomes increasingly more difficult to justify his actions as Nash becomes the one evicting families from their homes.

Meant to elicit anger, "99 Homes" is a scathing indictment of a system that pits people against one another. As Carver explains to Nash:

"America was built by bailing out winners...by rigging a nation, of the winners, for the winners, by the winners. Only one in a hundred's going to get on that ark, son. Every other poor soul's going to drown.".

It's a broken model where one person's gain comes at another's expense. "99 Homes" has immense empathy for the people trapped in this system. It doesn't matter if you're the One percent or the Ninety-Nine, you're either struggling to survive, or in fear of losing what you already have. Even people with the best intentions can lose their way.

Bahrani's themes are challenging, but his actors are more than up for the task. Gritty, raw and real, Garfield gives his best performance to date. As Nash, Garfield is a wellspring of emotion, constantly on the verge of eruption, initially as a distraught father, then as a man unable to bear his guilt. Playing his foil, the formidable Shannon delivers another exquisite performance. It's easy to crucify Carver as the villain in the story, but Bahrani and Shannon paint a more nuanced portrait of someone who is simply another victim of the system. Carver might be emotionally detached, cynical, and cunning, but he's not vindictive or menacing. His own father was a roofer, who was dropped by his insurance company after falling off a townhouse. Carver used to be a real-estate agent, putting people into homes until it was no longer profitable. Now he takes every opportunity to ensure the odds stay in his favour. Both men are doing what they feel is necessary to survive.

Morally challenging, uncomfortable and rousing, "99 Homes" forces us to look critically at the current state of economic disparity.