Review of I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore (2017) by Spangle — 01 Mar 2017

From a preachy first half to an explosive second half to a safe conclusion, I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore is like Lost River. The directorial debut of Ryan Gosling, Lost River was critiqued as being too much like a Nicolas Winding Refn film. In this case, the directorial debut of Macon Blair is too much like a Jeremy Saulnier film. The brutal violence and stylings of the film make one wonder if Blair is truly Saulnier's muse or if it is the reverse. Though the second half has hints of brilliance, it lacks the confidence to go full-on into the unknown. Instead, it sticks a soft landing that feels far too safe for how everything was turning out.

In this film, Blair sets out to set something straight: robberies are bad, racism is bad, sexism is bad, gender roles are bad, leaving dog poop in a person's yard is bad, spoiling books is bad, and being weird is good. Big risks all around. His societal commentary is spoon-fed to the audience with Blair spelling out all of the beliefs of the left for the first act of the film. It becomes incredibly preachy and obvious, right down to the title. I do not support gun violence or discrimination of any kind, but the film hardly feels revolutionary. It is just a checklist of liberal talking points that are getting checked off to ensure the film cements its footing as a left-wing film. Once it is done, the film forgets about this commentary in favor of abrupt and gory violence. Even worse, it then just makes a possibly gay kid and his drug abusing friends the big criminals, as well as drug using teens as villains, both of which seem against the message of the film. If the film is preaching acceptance and tolerance, then making these groups - those that need help - the villains strikes me as an unfortunate turn of events. Its commentary on lonely housewives and jerk husbands is also incredibly dated, obvious, and better covered by any film from Douglas Sirk in the 1950s. Thus, the themes in this film are hardly worthwhile and are not only in conflict with the villains and robbery victim Ruth (Melanie Lynskey) stealing and her back-up Tony (Elijah Wood) kicking an old man in the skull, but are hamfisted and obvious comments. The film is also uncomfortably anti-police, with the cops being seen as villains for not following random intuitions of Ruth's regarding who stole her things or not being willing to break into a home to find a laptop because of a search warrant.

That said, the climax is fantastic. Typical 2010s gory indie finale, yes, but explosive all the same. With unexpected violence and incredibly well choreographed action that is well directed, maximizing on the tension of the moment, it is clear Blair learned something from Saulnier. The violence and scenario may not be fully earned, but it plays out terrifically and concludes the mystery and confusion of the entire film very well. The exciting chase sequence also does this, even if it is dragged down by predictability with how Ruth and Tony manage to evade capture. Yet, the biggest let down comes in the third act when everything ends happy even if it clear at the end of the second act that things will end quite messy. Blair makes a u-turn and plays it incredibly safe, unwilling to leave people going home upset.

Acting-wise, the film is incredibly strong. In particular, Elijah Wood is excellent in a supporting role. He is incredibly funny and delivers his comedic and dramatic lines with excellent zip and a weird/odd charisma. Sporting a long rat tail, Wood is the perfect match for this ninja nutjob that has no problems defending Ruth and relishes in her company due to how lonely he is in his own life. Ruth, meanwhile, is nicely portrayed by Melanie Lynskey. Always a reliable actor, Lynskey delivers a good performance here as well and really does a good job shouldering the load of the film in a lead role.

As a whole though, the film is on shaky ground. While its second act is quite strong, its first act is too hamfisted with its liberalism and its third act is afraid of sad endings. Though I am a moderate, it seemed to be a film that merely argued in favor liberal talking points and then delivered negative portrayals of cops for simply doing their job. The film lacks in-depth social commentary and instead just Blair throwing a dart at a board filled with random social issues and including those in the film. Largely a rip-off of the work of Jeremy Saulnier, the film shows promise for Blair's future, but he needs to rein in the hamfisted political commentary and instead hone in on a few themes with a more nuanced approach.