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Dream House (2011)
Renovate 10 10
Dream House...or not really a Dream House at all? That is certainly a question. And not every question has an answer. However this one does (A: not really a Dream House).
I stumbled across this film by accident when it came on the box during a mini-marathon of home improvement/renovation/moving shows. Expecting another half hour of property porn I felt my anxiety levels steadily increasing as time passed with only minimal progress being made on the renovations - a few dabs of paint here and there does not a Dream House make.
Just when I started to sense that the pace would soon pick up the plot took a major twist, in turn taking me completely by surprise (genuinely)! Amongst other things, the twist revealed that this so-called Dream House was in need of much more substantial repair work than anyone had anticipated - it was found to be unsafe for habitation by local authorities shortly thereafter.
Notwithstanding the deceptive title and the gripe below, I really enjoyed this film. Solid performances and a decent script coupled with a good, though thoroughly unambitious, blend of mystery, drama, and suspense.
Gripe: One element of the film I did not enjoy was the lack of creativity in how the plot twist gets revealed - there's no graded opportunity for the audience to (try to) join the dots, and feel super smart and smug for 'working it out' - which is a lot of the fun when it comes to these types of films! I do wonder if the conversation on set between director and writer might have gone something like this:
Sheridan: I love this plot twist but we need a less subtle way of revealing it.
Loucka: Oh okay, we could drop some more obvious clues early on?
Sheridan: We could.. but that's still too subtle. Could we do it with no subtlety?
Loucka: None at all?
Sheridan: Yeah, none.
Loucka: Hmm... well a credible character could just tell everyone exactly what the twist is?
Sheridan: Brilliant.
Loucka: Thanks; I'm going to finish my other other 'house' themed script now.
Fargo (1996)
Enjoyable, exploitative
This "doco" is more "mocko". The people whose lives are tracked throughout the film are caricatures, I suspect cast purely for comic effect. Classic exploitation. That aside the film does make for some enjoyable viewing. At times I wondered whether the film was straying into the realms of snuff and thought 'why don't the filmmakers step in here'; but on balance, understanding the difficult decisions they face, I think they acted appropriately by not disturbing the natural order.
If you're comfortable laughing at others' expense and don't lose sleep over unanswered questions (like why the film is called Fargo, what happened to the buried loot and did Frances McDormand's performance really warrant an Oscar) then it's well worth a watch.