Home Is Where the Heart Is

"Inhabitation: moving from the strange to the familiar" or, to put it in the everyday vernacular, "home is where the heart is." Filmmaker Sian Evans has crafted an interesting meditation on the power of place in our lives which combines interview clips with Brooklyn residents, ruminations based on the psychology of Bruno Bettelheim, and experimental video and audio techniques (we know it's an experimental film because it features occasional subtitles, and it's not a foreign film). Although the form often competes with the content--as it often does in experimental film--Evans' video is always interesting to watch and, at its best, prods the viewer to think about a variety of issues. We are reminded of how easily the child accepts the outside world compared to the insular, bordered on all sides, castle keep attitude of the adult. Today, 50% of Americans change their domiciles within 5 years: what does the increasing mobility (with its consequence of decreasing deep connections) mean for the future health of the social fabric? Home Is Where the Heart Is makes you think about these kinds of questions. Of course, there will be plenty of folk who will check this out, and say, alà Beavis & Butthead: "uh...this is...uh...like art...heh...heh...heh." But the adventurous will enjoy this multi-award winning film festival favorite which is very reasonably priced. Recommended. (R. Pitman)