House of America

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.

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

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.

Set in a mining town in the South Wales valleys, House of American tracks the lives of four people - Sid, Gwenny, Boyo and their mother.

Sadly, as with most small, indie films, this one didn't make it at the box office. And, like alot of other indie films, it deserved to. As a psychological study it is excellent - exploring repression and the power of memory, as well as the lengths a truly psychotic person will go to in order to bury the past.

But the real strength of this film was that it was frighteningly realistic. Granted, not many Welsh miners go insane, but they did encounter the poverty and "American dream" syndrome that gives this film its name.

My wife writes: The Cable guide classified this film as a comedy. However,I did not find it amusing. In fact, I thought it was rather depressing, but well acted, particularly the part of Sid, played by Steven MacKintosh. I went to bed feeling grateful that I was not poor and Welsh. To get the credit that this film deserves, it should viewed again by the classifier and shown at a more reasonable hour and, in time, I think that, like "Withnail and I", this film could be a classic.