House of D (2005)

Best movie of this year hands down!

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

With David Duchovny's brilliant writing, sense of humor and the late Anton Yelchin shining bright in this early role you barely even notice Robin Williams. Not dissing Robin Williams at all - he does a fabulous job as always but the real unsung hero and often overlooked talent in this movie is Anton Yelchin - the world lost an incredibly talented young man when he passed unexpectedly. After reading a couple of Duchovny's books, watching Californication, The X-Files and even Aquarius - I went back and rewatched this and can hear his words throughout the entire film. If you haven't seen this and you're a fan of David Duchovny then you have to watch and rewatch this!

I remember Spielberg quoting something that goes something like this: "Everything's already filmed, there's nothing much to do nowadays in terms of film". Regardless if I quote him rightly or not, what's he saying is quite right. There's no stories left to tell anymore, and I add this, if there is maybe the studios are not interested in developing, or writers are not selling their materials the way it should be, they always have to alter something. What's "House of D." has to do with this statement? Well, it's a film that looks, sounds and resonates as something already made far too many times before. So, here's another coming of age flick with a good cast, thoughtful messages to present, heavily dosed with corny moments.Directing and acting in this, David Duchovny begins his story with his character, a young musician living in Paris, telling stories of his youth (now played by Anton Yelchin) and his friendship with a mental disabled man (Robin Williams, wait a minute. "Jack" again? That was better though), and the many things that occupies a boy's mind and body when he reaches the adolescence. No surprises, you can guess all sorts of problems he'll face here. First love, friendship tested, disagreements in the family because the boy's growing up, etc. All of that exists in so many (and better!) flicks that the only new pleasure in seeing "House of D." is some of the performances and some of the unreal situations presented.Audiences can enjoy this and see much more than just a simple film? Sure, they can. There's valuable life lessons in all what happens with the main character when young, that made him what he is in the future, through long talks with a woman in a penitentiary (Erykah Badu), best moments of the film where she teaches many things about life. There's plenty of cute and pleasant moments enriched with a potent and wonderful soundtrack (the highest point of the film is when Allman Brothers Band's "Melissa" starts to play, Yelchin's character selected it to dance with a crush of his named...Melissa!) but there isn't much life in this. The clichés are wasted, I've seen it enough times. If you haven't it, of course you'll enjoy it more than I did and maybe call it one of the greatest films ever made, thinking why it wasn't so much of a hit. Answer: because of everything I've said.If "House of D." works with some efficiency is because of Anton Yelchin, who carries the film with a certain innocence, rare to find these days, and some aspects that makes us remind of ourselves in a distant part of our lives. Duchovny, Frank Langella, Badu and Téa Leoni have all good roles, they make of this something more than decent. The wrong note comes to Yelchin's big partner that behaves like a kid Robin Williams, with wrong facial expressions/excessive make up to look younger. He's quite forgettable here despite having some good scenes.It's something good but never great. 6/10

This movie was great. Most People would think that Duchovny can't do it, but he did. An blew me away. You feel for the characters.This movie makes it okay to laugh and cry at the same time. Wonderful job by, new-comer, Anton Yelchin, and the veterans (Robin Williams, Tea Leoni) did amazing too!Anton has lots of talent and has big chances in movies. Robin Williams maybe America's funny man, but he is also an amazing dramatic actor.Tea Leoni is, as always, her perfect self. She is a terrific actress and is able to show happiness, even when she doesn't smile.An Bravo to Mr. David Duchovny, wrote and directed a wonderful story. Getting himself out of "The X-Files" shadow. There are of course a few errors, but believe you me--IT DOESN'T MATTER! The movie is still Fantastic!HIGHLY Recommend!

This film could be great. The cast is flawless, if only Duchovny had set it against an fictional prison in a fictional neighborhood. But he chose the Jefferson market Library as the focal point, during the later years of it's being a women's house of detention. The film takes place in 1973 , but the actual prison was deserted in the late 1950's till 1961. In 61 plans to make it a Library began, and it opened as a library in 1967. So setting the story in 1973 was totally inaccurate , since it had not been a prison for almost 20 years by that time.Details like this always ruin a film for me. If you don't know the history, it is still a very good film.