Model Home

This movie was fantastic. Super clever and had me at the edge of my seat the entire time. I was hesitant at first thinking it would be cheesy and campy but it proved to be anything but. Very smart and highly recommended.

One of the few cases I'd ask for a longer movie. This had SUCH potential.

The absolute best part of this movie was the co-lead boy, Luke Ganalon. For such a young kid, he was incredible in his role. I know it's hard to direct kids to be good actors, but it wasn't until just now I found that he's been acting awhile. So that, explains that. (Also, he may or may not be 18, but looks between 9-13.)

A very close second great part of this was the concept. An apparent Bipolar/etc, down on her luck single mom of one is a drifter until she gets a job working to maintain a model house in BFE Arizona (Southeast corner of the State.) Technically, the house looks beautiful and well maintained, but for plot purposes, her job is to make it presentable for potential buyers.

Her son's job - and boy, it shouldn't be this way - is to make sure his mom takes her VERY NEEDED meds so she doesn't go psycho. Well, she says she does take them...

The rest of the small cast is excellent, including Monique Gabriela Curnen as said Mom, the always wonderful Kathy Baker as the Realtor and Jon Jon Briones as the stalker Store Owner. The setting is nice - and I'm a little biased. (I love the few/far between movies set in Arizona and this was a nice surprise since I didn't know that going in.) And most of the movie's set up is well done and suspenseful with the mother falling further and further into madness.

But, there were so many opened doors and one horrific ending, it reminded me of the ending(s) to Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. It just...ends. And badly.

There is enough to love in this movie, like the kid's performance and concept, but damn. They must've edited out or simply didn't shoot the scenes that could've made the last third comprehensible and satisfying.

***

Final Thoughts: As much praise as I had for the kid (by the way, it also helps I love his character's name in real life and I've actually never heard it used in a movie before: Jaime,) he had one of the weirdest props in this movie - aside from his unexplained usage of floaties in the desert. He ran around the Arizona desert in a thick robe IN SUMMER. I'm not even guessing at the time of year: they tell us this lasts through one summer. No way anyone could survive our heat in that robe.

Also, while trying to figure out how old this kid is, I believe he may have been 18, but just looked so much younger, I found out his net worth is $1.3 million for his career so far. For that money, yeah, I guess he better carry this feature.

This film is much better than "they" would have you believe. It is an artsy, yet bleak, deep-dive into the world of a crafty, bipolar single mother struggling to raise her son in a "stable" home environment. A smart and imaginative take on mental health, and the importance of adhering to one's prescribed pill schedule. Seriously. Some clever plot twists, and great performances by all involved. Almost passed on it based on the cumulative score, but glad I gave it a chance. Recommended.

I found the premise of this interesting enough to watch without looking at the reviews. Glad I did. This movie has a lot going for it. The sense of isolation is everywhere. The landscape almost becomes another character. The performances while limited to a few roles are very well done. There is something about this movie. Very hard to put my finger in but it works. Also hard to classify what genre it fits in. Much much better than a lot of fodder out there.

I really wanted to like this movie more than I probably did. I thought the photography and the acting for such a low budget film was quite good. I love the backdrop of the desert. I thought the director did a great job of capturing a sense of dread. The problem is the whole movie was dreary and it was hard to watch at times. It tried to be quirky and even comical in some places. However it just fell flat for me and was just sad. I understand what the director was trying to do and the commentary on mental illness. However life is tough enough and I don't really want to see 90 minutes of sadness and dreariness.