My America Story of a House (2012) Online

Although it is not always relevant, there are times where I would like these short films to have come with a bit of context or background. In this case it is something I already know, and I guess something that most Americans watching will already be aware of – the problem of home foreclosures. A quick Google tells you the scale of the problem; for example in Florida during 2013 pretty much 1 in every 35 homes was subject to a foreclosure notice – hard to imagine when one things that I have about 60 houses along my street here and this would mean that 2 of them are being boarded up with the family out on the street.

It is a problem that is mostly nicely handled here, although perhaps a bit obvious in doing it. Despite the fact that high-earning African Americans are 80% more likely to lose their homes than their white equivalents (2012 – 'Collapse of Black Wealth' by Monica Potts), this film has a nice white lady who is well-to-do as the person doing the monologue. I think Rouner does a good job with this and, speaking as a white person, it perhaps makes it clear that the problem is not just in minority groups who overextended themselves; however it does seem like too obvious and easy a bit of casting.

The writing is nice for the most part; the woman relates the house as a part of the film, with its own voice, movements, and reactions to events. This personalizes the situation in a way that works pretty well. It is a shame that it clunks into the loss of the house quite so heavily, but it makes the point and does so with a character we relate to thanks to the writing and, to some degree if we are honest – the casting. Not as smart or as effective as some other films in this series, but it still works well enough.