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Monday, November 25, 2013

MOVIE REVIEW Home
Home Is Wherever His Head Might Be Right About Now
 

Gbenga Akinnagbe as Jack, in Jono Oliver's drama "Home". 
The Home Film Group LLC

       

by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW                                           
Monday, November 25, 2013


A solid film with the passion and conviction of its subject matter and the commitment of its actors, "Home", a drama directed by Jono Oliver, is a sincere look at mental illness and its affect on Jack (Gbenga Akinnagbe), a man trying to keep a roof over his head in New York City.

Estranged from his wife (Tawny Cypress) and son, Jack has hallucinations.  He attends mental health meetings with fellow patients at a center where he also lives.  He knows things aren't quite right.  He works but the money he earns isn't sufficient.  He looks out for himself but thinks more of others, which while altruistic, gets him into trouble with a neighborhood drug dealer.  Jack is a man on an island and his search for a place to call his own becomes more desperate.

Complete with fine performances from a stellar cast that includes Joe Morton, James McDaniel, Isiah Whitlock Jr. and Danny Hoch, "Home" is efficiently directed by Mr. Oliver as a palpable, compassionate urban journey of empathy and belonging.  There are the familiar elements found in films featuring mental health community workshops: patients acting out, resistance, misunderstandings and healing hands. 

Throughout Mr. Oliver keeps cliché outbursts to a minimum while building tension to accentuate the dire circumstances affecting Jack.  Mr. Akinnagbe is great as Jack, filtering his performance on dual levels: as a man grappling to cope with his condition as it threatens to overwhelm him, while seeking to reach higher ground in his fractured life.  He becomes jobless and his search for work is as despairing as his search for an apartment.  There are degrees of class tension between Jack, a once upscale worker, and some of those he encounters, including at an apartment broker business.  He soon realizes just how out of place he is everywhere. 

Poignant, moving and authentic, "Home" offers a glimpse of people trying to keep their everyday lives intact.  The universe operates a little more slowly for them, as the rest of the world leaves them behind or looks down on them.  This inspirational debut feature from Mr. Oliver takes the time to look at people many of us choose to forget or pass by.  "Home", a mostly sunny film despite its serious themes, resonates.

"Home", which opened in New York City and Los Angeles on Friday, plays exclusively in those cities through this Thursday, in a one-week engagement, at the Quad Cinema in New York and the Arena Cinema in Hollywood.

Also with: KK Moggie, Victor Williams.

"Home" is not rated by the Motion Picture Association Of America.  The film's running time is one hour and 52 minutes.
 

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