99 Homes

Set in Orlando, FL, this taut and timely thriller begins with a blood-splattered suicide as a suburban homeowner chooses death over eviction. Disposing of the mess falls to callous real-estate broker Richard Carver (Michael Shannon), whose business is to acquire foreclosed-upon homes for resale—gaming both the real-estate market and the government. Next on Carver's list is the family home of Dennis Nash (Andrew Garfield), an unemployed construction worker cruelly forced to move his widowed mother (Laura Dern) and young son (Noah Lomax) into a shabby motel. Determined to earn enough to reclaim his home, Nash goes to work for Carver, despite Carver's ominous warning: “When you work for me, you're mine.” First, Nash diligently handles clean-ups; then, he's stealing air conditioners, appliances, and water pumps from abandoned houses and posting “vacate” notices when homeowners cannot keep up payments. Before long, Nash has become unscrupulous Carver's protégé, evicting decent working people and the elderly, giving them two minutes to pack up their belongings, which are then dumped on the curb. “First one's a bitch, but you get numb to it,” Carver says. Directed by Ramin Bahrani, 99 Homes serves up a simplistic but also socially-conscious and emotionally effective commentary on the American economy—and its legal and administrative loopholes. Recommended. (S. Granger)