"The Behaviour of Houses", David Scott's exciting debut feature, juxtaposes urban intellectuals (or would-be intellectuals) with suburban entrepreneurs and promptly proceeds to debunk the stereotypes that inhere to these seemingly-oppositional worlds.
Siblings Melinda and Jeremy act out the stereotypes and, yet, with each succeeding moment in the film, they are confronted by the contradictions of human relationships. Estranged at first, the two nevertheless rediscover shared memories, those that Melinda especially has tried to shut away in adulthood with her move to the proverbial big city in search of art and liberation.
What becomes of Melinda, especially when "the behaviour of houses", and a very personal tragedy, threaten to toss her back into a world of managed, pre-fabricated landscapes? And what of Jeremy, straight-laced and suburban, and yet with a history of European scandals? Is Colum as "sensitive" and progressive as appearances suggest? Scott prompts these questions without offering "solutions", leaving a thinking audience with a myriad of interpretive possibilities.
The city undergirds the film. Scott's project is as much about the struggle to articulate a collective, urban identity in a space marked by change, renewal, and growth as it is about a domestic drama. The camera lingers affectionately on city landmarks and streets at the start, while at other times, the gaze is far more critical. The resulting vision is complex without being gratuitously dense.
Siblings Melinda and Jeremy act out the stereotypes and, yet, with each succeeding moment in the film, they are confronted by the contradictions of human relationships. Estranged at first, the two nevertheless rediscover shared memories, those that Melinda especially has tried to shut away in adulthood with her move to the proverbial big city in search of art and liberation.
What becomes of Melinda, especially when "the behaviour of houses", and a very personal tragedy, threaten to toss her back into a world of managed, pre-fabricated landscapes? And what of Jeremy, straight-laced and suburban, and yet with a history of European scandals? Is Colum as "sensitive" and progressive as appearances suggest? Scott prompts these questions without offering "solutions", leaving a thinking audience with a myriad of interpretive possibilities.
The city undergirds the film. Scott's project is as much about the struggle to articulate a collective, urban identity in a space marked by change, renewal, and growth as it is about a domestic drama. The camera lingers affectionately on city landmarks and streets at the start, while at other times, the gaze is far more critical. The resulting vision is complex without being gratuitously dense.