99 Homes (Blu-ray) (2014) |
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99 Homes (Blu-ray) (2014) |
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| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Drama |
Interviews-Cast & Crew Theatrical Trailer Trailer-Madman Propaganda |
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| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 2014 | ||
| Running Time | 112:11 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By | Ramin Bahrani |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Madman Entertainment |
Starring |
Michael Shannon Andrew Garfield Laura Dern Noah Lomax Carl Palmer Luke Sexton Tim Guinee Jonathan Tabler J.D. Evermore |
| Case | Standard Blu-ray | ||
| RPI | $29.95 | Music |
Antony Partos Matteo Zingales |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Alternate Audio Linear PCM 44.1/16 2.0 |
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| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
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| Video Format | 1080p | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 2.35:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | None | Smoking | Yes, Cigarettes plus vaping |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
In the same vein as writer-director Ramin Bahrani’s previous motion pictures (Chop Shop, Man Push Cart), 99 Homes is a hard-hitting drama which comments on the difficulties of surviving in today’s economically unstable world. More specifically, 99 Homes is about the events which took place during the recent housing crisis in the United States, when many helpless families were evicted from their residences. Its fertile territory, serving as something of a companion piece to the likes of 2011’s Margin Call and Adam McKay’s 2015 Oscar contender The Big Short. But while it’s concerned with lofty subject matter, 99 Homes does not play out like a stuffy lecture - rather, it’s a powerful human drama with things to say about contemporary capitalism, showing how good people can be swallowed up by greed.
A construction worker in Florida, Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield) struggles to find stable work and cover his debts, trying his hardest to retain his family home where he lives with son Connor (Noah Lomax) and mother Lynn (Laura Dern). Despite Nash’s best efforts, the bank forecloses on his home, and he faces the cold-blooded wrath of opportunistic real estate agent Rick Carver (Michael Shannon), who makes a lot of money from collecting properties. Heartbroken, Nash takes his family to live in a dingy motel to join others in similar circumstances, hoping to one day win back his former home. Desperate for work, Nash receives an unexpected job offer from Carver, who’s in need of people to do manual labour on foreclosed homes. The deal is too good to pass up, with Nash earning stacks of money by evicting helpless families and exploiting the government system, but his conscience begins to trouble him as he’s drawn deeper in Carver’s dark empire built out of other people’s misfortune.
What ensues is very reminiscent of Oliver Stone’s Wall Street, with Nash being drawn into an immoral world for the sake of riches, questioning his integrity at every step. The key difference between the two films, however, is that Nash operates for survival, rather than pure greed. The brilliance of Bahrani’s approach to the story is that he examines both sides of the coin, shining a light on the plight of the hardworking individuals struggling to keep a roof over their heads, as well as Carver, the numbed real estate agent who warns against the perils of debt. 99 Homes is most fascinating when it concentrates on Carver in action and shows his process, but the movie is less successful when it’s about specific individuals. Bahrani keeps the movie afloat with his focused storytelling, but a climactic standoff is a bit much, and sometimes the script feels a bit too pat for a subject matter as utterly dense as this.
99 Homes may be 110 minutes, but it moves at an exceptionally brisk speed, thanks in no small part to the raw handheld cinematography, expert framing, and the pounding original soundtrack by Antony Partos and Matteo Zingales. The craftsmanship on display is simply superb, doing justice to this thematically dense drama. Of particular note is the truly bravura scene of Dennis and his family being evicted by Carver and his hired police officers, who are cold to their pleas of mercy. It’s a heart-wrenching, riveting sequence which effectively conveys the shame, horror and emotion of an eviction, and it generates a real sense of loss as the powerless residents are forced to vacate their long-time home.
At the centre of this story is an exceptional cast, with Bahrani extracting focused performances from the entire ensemble. Coming off his limited run as Spider-Man, Garfield shows himself to be a talented thespian worthy of Oscar consideration, placing forth his most nuanced work to date as Nash. It’s a tricky role to play, but Garfield does it justice, managing to keep us on his side despite what he’s forced to do, showing that he has a conscience and simply wants to keep his family afloat. Powerful moments abound, including a number of heartbreaking scenes in which Nash is forced to evict helpless people but finds himself dangerously unconfident. But it’s Shannon who walks away with the entire movie as the emotionless Rick Carver, who puts aside all sentimentality as he carries out his dire duty. Shannon is commanding and enthralling, but never showy, managing to carve out a villainous character that’s not just one-note. Superb support is also provided by Dern, who plays very well alongside Garfield.
Smartly, Bahrani does not concern himself with the convoluted intricacies of the stock market or real estate loans, which would have more than likely murdered the strong pacing. 99 Homes instead concentrates on how the end result affects families while certain individuals continue to get rich, making for a fascinating examination of a world that we rarely get to see in motion pictures. Even though it does fall short of perfection, it’s a timely and important fictional drama with real-life underpinnings, and it absolutely must be seen.
99 Homes was lensed digitally using Arri Alexa cameras, and Madman presents the movie on Blu-ray in 1080p high definition, framed in its original aspect ratio of 2.35:1. On the whole, this is a serviceable presentation, but it’s nowhere near the best that the format can offer, though it’s unclear if the shortcomings are due to the encode, or are purely source-related.
The broad strokes of the transfer are fine, exhibiting above-average sharpness, with no signs of encoding anomalies like aliasing or ringing. However, detail is distinctly average, and the video looks both smeary and flat. In mid shots and close-ups of Garfield, we should be able to discern every hair on his scruffy face, but instead the images are often more on the muddy side, which is disappointing. Some shots look overly smooth, as if digital noise reduction was applied. Facial texturing on the whole is average, though some moments fare better than others. On the whole, this transfer lacks the dazzling “pop” of fine detail that we’ve come to expect from new release Blu-ray transfers in 2016.
There is some light source-related video noise, but it’s often blocky, and doesn’t serve to enhance the texture in any meaningful way. However, colour is strong and appears true to the intentions of the filmmakers, pushing for a low-key, mildly yellow-toned appearance, and contrast is often exaggerated for effect. Blacks are deep, with no evidence of crush. It’s certainly leaps and bounds above the level of a DVD.
All things considered, 99 Homes looks slightly disappointing on Blu-ray, but it’s still watchable for videofiles, while casual viewers probably won’t notice or care about the shortcomings of the transfer. According to IMDb, the movie was finished at 2K, but an Ultra HD Blu-ray release would probably offer some improvement. However, it’s doubtful that we will ever see such a disc.
As with many of Madman’s releases, no subtitles are available.
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Madman offer two audio options on this particular Blu-ray: a lossless DTS-HD MA 5.1 track, and an uncompressed Linear PCM 2.0 track. 99 Homes is a drama, but it does have some subtle atmospherics to make use of the surround channels, not to mention the pulsing soundtrack which makes for an enveloping watch. The 5.1 mix is a layered track, allowing for crystal clear dialogue coming through the front channels, while the subwoofer is sporadically given things to do. This isn’t an overly showy track, but its subtle disposition is entirely by design, and it works.
The Linear PCM track is a bit different by comparison. The front-centric mix has noticeably louder dialogue while atmospherics are downplayed. I guess each mix has its purpose - those of you with surround systems will want to go for the more cinematic DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix, but those of you with simple TV audio or soundbars might prefer the Linear PCM 2.0 mix.
99 Homes sounds terrific on the whole.
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A small selection of special features.
A standard supplement for Madman releases, here we have a raw selection of interviews with cast and crew, which basically amounts to the movie’s electronic press kit. The questions are all very standard-order, and the participants only occasionally have something of any substance to say. Bahrani’s interview is by far the most interesting, as he speaks about the on-camera improvisation, the technical achievements, and even bringing real people onto the movie to afford a heightened sense of authenticity. He also speaks about the themes and the real world of evictions and real estate. These interview segments can only be watched individually. Here's what we have:
Bonus points to Madman for including the film’s theatrical trailer. I always appreciate the inclusion.
Another obligatory reel of ads, for those interested. There’s an anti-piracy advertisement, and trailers for Mississippi Grind, Nightcrawler, Blood Ties, and Enemy.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region A (locked) release from Broad Green Pictures contains the following:
It's a shame that the two sets of supplements could not be reconciled, as that would constitute a more definitive release. At the time of writing, I cannot find any information about the extras on the UK BD release from Studio Canal.
I'm easily giving the win to Region A.
99 Homes is a focused little character-centric thriller with fascinating insight into the US housing crisis and how it affected the working class. It's not the definitive film on the topic, but it is valuable all the same, and a worthwhile companion piece to the recent The Big Short.
Madman's Blu-ray release is slightly underwhelming. Audio is strong, but video is average and there isn't much in the way of extras. I'll give this one a mild recommendation on the strength of the movie itself, however.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | PlayStation 4, using HDMI output |
| Display | LG 42LW6500. This display device has not been calibrated. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. This audio decoder/receiver has not been calibrated. |
| Amplification | LG BH7520TW |
| Speakers | LG Tall Boy speakers, 5.1 set-up, 180W |