The House of Tomorrow

The trailer made this movie look like a whole lot more fun than it actually is. The trailer makes it look like a comedy but it's a fairly heavy drama and the few humorous bits are chuckle worthy at best.

It's a decent movie for what it is, perhaps even a good one, but I rated it low because how misrepresented it was. I was NOT in the mood for something so serious.

THE HOUSE Of TOMORROW (2017) 9 out of 10 Albert Stars

Worth seeing! This movie gets your attention and holds it via strengths of good acting and directing, rounded character development, an excellent script, and a fine story arc. It is not really about Buckminster Fuller's architecture, although that figures symbolically as the geodesic dome house-museum in which Ellen Burstyn and her charge live.

Instead, this tale is about two adolescents, one sheltered and played with great restraint and sensitivity by Asa Butterfield; and the other a rebellious, aspiring punk rocker played by Alex Wolff. The sheltered teen is zealously guarded by his granny, played superbly by Ellen Burstyn.

There is a good deal more to the story and many amusements and hijinx. But the main theme is caring - and is it is finely interpreted by the teens and the parental figures. Well done! Only available in selected theaters and via DVD

It was great to hear the back story about one of the greatest architects and minds ever. I really enjoyed that element of the story.

The rest seemed pulled from various teen novels that I failed to relate with. Maybe I am the wrong person to be making a review about a movie that wanted to focus on the punk music or rather elements of it.

Something is missing that I can't define about the movie.

I give it a pass but if you are a teen or enjoy the teen genre enjoy yourself.

I really like the casting for this movie. Both Asa Butterfield and Alex Wolff are great choices for the rebellious teens with unique situations that they attempt to overcome. Ellen Burstyn makes an authentic hippie grown old who maintains her antiquated ideals from the 70's. Nick Offerman as the single father of 2 teens who both have been scarred by his son's transplant. It is a tragic comedy that touches a number of age old teen angst topics. Another example of how a modest film with a limited budget can tell a marvelous story and develop characters we can feel real empathy for. The first film I have seen to capture the well intended but misguided Minnesota utopian world I once lived in.

What really shines in the film are the actors. Asa Butterfield and Alex Wolff are good, I dare say Nick Offerman is great. Not so much Ellen Burstyn, who had a cardboard role and a similar approach to it. The story is also interesting, although polluted with some tough to swallow cliches like "the teenage kid that never had soda and speaks like a dictionary" or "the nasty but good at heart kids". But once you get over those, the film is very pleasant. There are some scenes that are just wonderful.

Bottom line: coming of age story with a nice happy ending, an exploration of the teenage angst from the eyes of a naive and sheltered child raised in the spirit of futurism by a nutty grandmother. I recommend it.