House of America

I used to work in the coal industry and know Banwen and the area well.

When the film makers scouted the location for the film they planned on using the local Banwen opencast coal site after visiting it, so they were a bit disconcerted to return prior to production to see that the site had finished mining and was being filled in! Fortunately they were able to use another site nearby.

I spent the best part of 4 years driving around South Wales in a blue landrover, so I was delighted to see it prominently featured in a scene in the mine. (yes I know I'm very sad and should get out more,lol).

I watched this film out of curiosity but did enjoy it although it is bleak. If I had to be critical it doesn't convey the humour and togetherness prevalent in the type of community it portrays, but I don't think that was the intention. Not a film that demands regular viewing, but it has solid acting.

Written by controversial Welsh theatre director Ed Thomas "House of America" is a rather complex and artistic film with some interesting points to make about Welsh cultural identity. Set in a remote rural Welsh town the film tells the story of a rather warped family obsessed with the all things American. The characters are fed up with their boring, mundane existence in their remote South Wales community and fantasise about leaving for America to live with their father who supposedly left Wales to chase his dreams in the land of opportunity. However not all is as it seems and the truth is all too condemning for those who live in a dream like bubble of consciousness constructed from their fantasies of American literature. The horror of reality is too difficult to accept for the condemned hero of the film Sid and his Sister Gwenny who take on the personas of the American writer Jack Kerouac and his relationship with Joyce Johnson. The results are catastrophicly destructive as the truth of their reality slowly emerges to haunt them, and their disillusioned lives begin to fall apart. Ed Thomas has some interesting if not clichéd points to make about how we are all rapped up in the media culture of America and how Wales has no real cultural identity of its own. The usual Welsh stereotypes are dismissed as being artificially constructed and ultimately fake, there are no happy mining communities, no sheep no daffodils or rolling green hills in this film, just an empty void which is filled by borrowing off American culture which is ultimately all lies. An artistic, cleverly constructed film well worth watching if you can stand its dark and depressing nature. -Stuart Hall

took me a while to get into this film, but it won me in the end. A very bleak insight into the lives of a welsh family trying to break free from their downbeat humdrum lifestyle. It focuses mainly on two brothers and a sister(sid, boyo, and gwenny) who are desperate to join their father in America and find some excitement. But why doesn't he reply to Gwenny's letters..... There is a tense atmosphere all the way through, and particularly the moments of incestuous lust between sid and his sister(kind of kurt cobain and juliette lewis lookalikes), adds to the movies feel of isolation and desperation. And whilst all this is going on, there is the slightly un-hinged mother, what secret does she hide? I can recommend this movie, if you can find it, because behind the bleakness is a well acted and beautifully photographed study of modern day mis-fits.

This was the film that should have really propelled Steven Mackintosh into the big time (although his earlier work on TV in The Buddha of Suburbia should have done so too). In 'House of America', as Kerouac-obsessed Sid, he is absolutely superb.

The rest of the film is hit and miss, although I did like it. Anything with Siân Phillips is usually worth watching and as the on-the-edge Mam doesn't disappoint. As the other kids in the family Matthew Rhys impresses as Boyo, while Lisa Palfrey tackles a difficult role as Gwenny, trapped in her own fantasies.

Excellent 1990s soundtrack too which adds to the mood. It is a downbeat and powerful film which just stops short of where it could go, but overall a good effort.

A family saga set in South Wales in which Sid, Gwenny and Boyo succeed in cracking up. A wild and crazy film that's well worth two hours of your time, if you can find it !