99 Homes | DVD release - Andrew Garfield's American dream turns nightmare in this cautionary tale | Movie Talk | What's on TV

(Image credit: Hooman Bahrani)

The American Dream turns sour for Andrew Garfield’s blue-collar striver Dennis Nash in 99 Homes, a gripping cautionary drama set in 2010 Florida at the height of America’s subprime mortgage crisis. Evicted from his foreclosed family home, along with his young son (Noah Lomax) and mother (Laura Dern), he winds up going to work for the crooked real estate broker (Michael Shannon) who made him homeless.

Nash’s subsequent fortunes are a tad contrived, but Garfield skilfully conveys his inner anguish/turmoil as he learns from his ruthless new mentor how to prosper from the misery of others. Shannon’s cold-blooded villain is compelling, too, snarling a string of heartless maxims (‘America doesn’t bail out the losers. America was built by bailing out winners’) and giving us a chilling glimpse of American capitalism red in tooth and claw.

Certificate 15. Runtime 110 mins. Director Ramin Bahrani.

99 Homes is available to buy on Blu-ray and DVD from February 9th 2016 from Studiocanal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbuiJi52w9c

A film critic for over 25 years, Jason admits the job can occasionally be glamorous – sitting on a film festival jury in Portugal; hanging out with Baz Luhrmann at the Chateau Marmont; chatting with Sigourney Weaver about The Archers – but he mostly spends his time in darkened rooms watching films. He’s also written theatre and opera reviews, two guide books on Rome, and competed in a race for Yachting World, whose great wheeze it was to send a seasick film critic to write about his time on the ocean waves. But Jason is happiest on dry land with a classic screwball comedy or Hitchcock thriller.