Home Movie

This documentary is by the same person who did "American Movie" which documented the attempted making of a low budget horror movie. It's a fascinating look at how people re-model their houses to match their personalities. I love quirky documentaries like this, so it was right up my alley.

The houses included one that was made out of an abandon missile silo in Kansas - complete with an aging hippie homeowner playing a Native American flute to chase the evil spirits away. There's a retired actress that lives is a hydro-electric powered tree house in the jungles of Hawaii, an alligator wrestling good old boy that lives in a houseboat in the swamps of Louisiana and an uber-geek that has remade an electric house complete with robots.

My favorite though, is the family that has completely remade their house in order to let their 11 cats run amok in it. This is a short fun film - if you want a break from heavy, serious stuff, give it a try.

A big, burly guy who makes his living working with 'gators lives in a home-made houseboat in the Louisiana bayous and takes people on tours to see the water lilies blooming. An electronic genius in Illinois lives in an all-electric house that is his greatest toy, and when he says all-electric he doesn't just mean the cooktop--rooms change locations, living room chairs are as mobile as wheelchairs, soapdish hands pop out of the wall, and everything is controlled by pressing code numbers on the telephone. A new age family in Kansas lives in an abandoned Atlas missile silo that they converted into what they call their "twentieth century castle" and play Native American instruments in rooms where potential nuclear destruction was once housed. A childless couple living in California have turned their house completely over to their eleven or twelve cats who have hundreds of yards of overhead walkways, secret passages into hidden rooms, and every single thing that a cat could want, and the couple makes their living by photographing their cats for greeting cards, calendars, and cat-lover books. In Hawaii a pioneering elderly lady lives in a tree-house generating her own electricity in a remote jungle valley that is barely assessible via her SUV only when the level of a boundary river is low enough. Come meet these fascinating, unusual, genuine people who fashioned for themselves EXACTLY the kind of life that THEY want. We can too. What are we doing with our tract houses, our ticky-tacky apartments, our nine-to-five jobs, our outrageous mortgages, and we don't even have what we really want! These people broke free (if, indeed, they were ever trapped in the first place), because the only voices they listened to were their own, inner ones. Very inspiring for the rest of us. It's not too late to dig up that forgotten wishbook, roll up our sleeves, and start making our desires come true, too.

Just saw this film last night at Austin's South by Southwest Film Festival. What a breath of fresh air. This documentary, I think, brilliantly captures the humor and zest-for-life of five eclectic households whom are all living their own version of the American dream. All of the characters are fascinating for their quirkiness and eccentricity, but what really strikes you is just how genuine each person is. In a world of pre-packaged sound bites, "reality TV", and political correctness, it was refreshing to see people that were so in touch with themselves that they are able to create habitats that are such complete extensions of their personality. To me it also reminded me what I believe is best about America, that even in this day of look-a-like sub divisions, SUV's, and office cubicles, you can still be who ever you want to be in this country as long as you have the courage to follow your inner voice.

"should be required viewing for all of us in the extended homeowner's association we call the human race." That comment by Bluerb, posted somewhere below about HOME MOVIE sums up why I find myself talking about this film more than any other.

HOME MOVIE's impact has nothing to do with film-making. Plot cohesiveness, cinematography and character development are irrelevant, and whether it was originally intended as a film, or a series of commercials is beside the point.

HOME MOVIE is a pure and an intimate microcosmic glimpse into the distinct realities created by a few unique citizens of the united states. It is memorable not merely because of the unique living environments it reveals.

For those of us living in the USA at a time when many blame our current socio-political and economic situation on the apathy and ignorance on our citizens, HOME MOVE is a source of reassurance, and of inspiration.

The characters in this film share a common drive. They've all refused conformity to our society's norms, they all have vision, and they all have passion for something... anything.

Linda Beech, who looks to be in her seventies, says a little prayer and then drives through a river every time she drives to, or from her home because her trees, and the life she's built around them are just that important to her.

In that you will find the value of this film.

To his credit he's built one 280-pound, 6'8" robot named Arok who can vacuum the carpet, mix drinks, dance, take Polaroid photos and talk, plus two smaller (5' tall) robots, one for the Orland Park Police Department another for the police department in Park Ridge. Before the Ferrari there were three other remote controlled automobiles. Skora says he invented a cordless telephone three years before AT&T came up with theirs. He's built a viewer/telephone that actually operates between his home and that of a friend in Mokena.

Skora's home is an electronic fantasy with a 6'-diameter electronic iris door, remote control roll-down shower curtain and a 16'-diameter revolving living room. The house has kitchen cabinets with shelves that go up and down electronically, lights, music and waterfalls that turn on and off by remote control, a wet bar that glides out from a flat wall, electronically-controlled hands that appear out of nowhere to deliver hand soap or swizzle sticks for your drink, a transporter room, Hollywood smoke effects and an easy chair that can be driven --starting, stopping and turning on a dime-- by operating two toggles on the arm rests.

And, as they say, that's not all. There are fascinating things too numerous to chronicle around every corner in Skora's house. Most can be operated by simply dialing numbers on a touch-tone phone. "I can operate everything here even if I'm in Tokyo," Skora boasts, making a sweeping motion with his arm to take in his entire residence. What's even more remarkable, from all accounts he's been able to perform that bit of electronic magic for close to thirty years.

All of Skora's electronic bells and whistles, from the suit of armor that doesn't just talk to the full-sized female mannequin/floor lamp with a panties lampshade to the, well, bells and whistles, are created with one thing in mind - fun. Ben Skora is nothing if not an elfin prankster. Friends say that if Ben thinks about something he'll build it, but if it can get a laugh, he'll build it faster.