‘99 Homes’ Trailer

Boy, Andrew Garfield lost that Spider-Man gig and times got tough fast.

Okay, maybe not. But in the trailer for 99 Homes, the new thriller from director Ramin Bahrani, Garfield plays a man evicted from his home by a remorseless real-estate broker played by Michael Shannon. Desperate to provide for his family, Garfield’s character goes to work for Shannon’s; soon he’s the one kicking poor people out of their beloved homes. It’s sink-or-swim in modern America, Shannon’s character says. But is it okay to keeping swimming if you have to drown other people and use their lifeless bodies to stay afloat? That’s the question.

Bahrani got his start making intimate dramas with largely unknown casts; superb indies like Chop Shop, Goodbye Solo, and Man Push Cart. In 2012, he graduated to bigger movies with big-name talent; At Any Price featured Dennis Quaid and Zac Efron in a story about family farms and race cars. That movie was a bit of a commercial disappointment, but when 99 Homes played at the Venice and Toronto film festivals last year, it got near-universal acclaim for its depiction of the dark side of the American dream. Garfield and Shannon got strong reviews as well.

It is a little strange to see Peter Parker as a down-on-his-luck single dad (and his kid’s not that young either!), but he looks properly desperate, and Shannon is always great as crazy/charismatic characters. This should be a keeper, assuming you can afford to buy a copy without refinancing any of your student loans. 99 Homes opens in theaters on September 25, 2015.