Early in his career, filmmaker Ramin Bahrani found an influential champion in the person of Roger Ebert, so it is only fitting that this Bahrani picture, one of his best, is dedicated to the late film critic. Ebert undoubtedly would have given an enthusiastic thumbs up to 99 Homes.
Like The Big Short, another movie coincidentally released in 2014, 99 Homes mines the 2008 financial crisis for its morality tale, but the similarities end there. Where The Big Short found some laughs amid economic tragedy, 99 Homes is rougher around the edges, and just as brilliant.
At center is a pair of excellent performances by Michael Shannon and Andrew Garfield. The former is typically menacing as Rick Carver, a hotshot real-estate agent who profits from families losing their homes. Garfield is Dennis Nash, a hardworking single dad living with his mom (Laura Dern) and young son (Noah Lomax). In one particularly gut-wrenching scene, Dennis and clan are unceremoniously evicted from their home. All appears lost until Dennis cuts a Faustian bargain with Carver, the very man who forced their eviction.
The movie eschews easy moralizing in favor of sharply drawn characters swallowed up by the shifting tectonics of economic collapse. The results are riveting. Bahrani’s direction is naturalistic, almost documentary-style, but thoroughly infused with tension.
In micro-budget flicks like Chop Shop (2007) and Goodbye Solo (2008), Bahrani distinguished himself telling stories about people on the margins of society – immigrants, the homeless, street orphans. 99 Homes continues that tradition, albeit with seasoned actors and the comparative luxury of a $5 million budget and months-long shooting schedule. It shows.
Cutting to the Chase with Phil Bacharach 