Mobile Homes

This film tells the story of a woman with a young son and a irresponsible boyfriend. They drift around because they have no money.

The story is slow, and it is not very engaging. They seem to leave a trail of destruction wherever they go, and I just cannot feel for the family. It is hard to feel sorry for the woman because she just can't change her ways, for example she even has to keep stealing little items from the guy who helps her.

Can someone actually change their life? That is the question Director/Writer Vladimir de Fontenay (primarily a Short's director) poses in this gritty yet heart-wrenching look at wayward mother (Imogen Poots "That Awarkard Moment" 2014), her abusive and demanding boyfriend Evan (Callum Turner "The Only Boy Living in New York" 2017) - a role originally slated for Anton Yelchin before his death, her young impressionable son ( new comer Frank Oulton) and mobile home builder/seller Robert (Callum Keith Rennie "Californication "). What de Fontenay and cinematographer Benoit Soler do right here is place the audience directly in the seat of the actors, enable us to live their chaotic lifestyle and experience their cold Canada environment. Along with de Fontenay's terrific realistic direction, across the board the actors make the audience despise who they are and what they are doing, yet equally make the viewer wish them better life choices. Young Outlon and Keith Rennie stand out here because they are so contradictory to what the stories premise. Thus, they keep the audience glued to the screen and their characters. "Mobile Homes" is an indie film that probably won't make it to the big screen. However, you should find it in other formats. This film was screened at the Palm Springs International Film Festival #PSIFF2018

I tried to like this movie, but so much of it is so contrived an unbelievable. The characters are not likeable, they make horrible life choices and seem intent on messing up anything in their life that may seem good or normal. I actually have known people in life who made horrible decisions and were in similar situations as the characters in this movie, they did things differently and for different reasons. But their horrible choice made a kind of sense, in this movie so much is nonsensical.

The ending is a disaster. I couldn't imagine a worse ending for this film. Sad and tragic should be the plotline, not the movie itself.

I won't give anything away. The mother and son are both portrayed by extraordinary actors. Opinions seem polarised regarding the story; if you can't relate then - hey, lucky you! Anyone with any similar experience will find this gut-wrenching, but ultimately uplifting. Reading other reviews I wonder why some pepole watch anything other than shiny happy family films.

Mobile Homes (2017) follows a mother and her young son as they drift between motels with the mother's toxic boyfriend. This was a beautiful and heartfelt film with great meaning. The cast did an amazing job, and the film was so visually stunning! This film felt like The Florida Project (2017) meets Nomadland (2020).

Firstly, the cinematography was beautiful and not overwhelming, and the visuals in general were pleasing to the eye. There were a lot of pretty colours and I especially liked the pale blue shots, also the lighting was calm and relaxing. In addition, I liked the framing too. The setting for the film was pretty and a good fit!

The sound was fairly good, I wasn't too fussed about the score but it definitely wasn't bad and it fit the mood well. However, I was genuinely very impressed with the sound design as there was a lot of attention to detail and a lot of effort had gone into it.

The characters felt so real, and all the acting was impressive and brilliant. This film was an intimate character study of a flawed yet relatable protagonist that was easy to root for. Imogen Poots really gave her best performance in Mobile Homes (2017). The mother-son relationship was beautiful and both actors had a lot of chemistry. I'd also like to mention the costuming, which I really liked too.

The film as a whole wasn't consistently engaging, but I still believe it succeeded as a slow-burn. The pacing was very steady and it was packed full of emotional moments. The ending was a nice close to the film and brought me to tears!