I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE – Review

Review by Stephen Tronicek

Is everyone an a-hole? The US Grand Jury Prize winner at the Sundance Film Festival this year, I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE, seems to be a very easy answer to that question, or at least a comforting distraction. Distraction, then again would be giving it too little credit. I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore deserves every reward coming to it for its hysterical, yet sad script, pitch-perfect direction, and solemnly hilarious performances. After all, when asking such a difficult question of the audience it’s a good idea not to take yourself too seriously.

I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE (which has been written and directed by Jeremy Saulnier bit part player and best actor of his kind maybe since Paul Giamatti, Macon Blair) follows Ruth (Melanie Lynskey, still as excellent as she was in Heavenly Creatures until…now) who is sick and tired of people being “assholes.” She’s sick of people letting their dogs poop on her lawn, sick of them driving big world-killer trucks, and sick of them breaking into her house and stealing her stuff. Upon realizing that the authorities can’t do anything for her Ruth, accompanied by resident “great character actor” Elijah Wood as Tony, will track down her stuff and figure out how to deal with all of the “assholes”

The deeper questions at the center of I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE, only serve to elevate what is already a pretty slick and biting movie. There’s a deep sadness to be found in the fact that the people around simply do not care about the way they treat others that become even more cutting when you realize this is a microcosm of an even bigger injustice. This film is a quest, one that ends in violent ways, to get back what is ultimately just stuff. Sentimental items that reassure the characters that they themselves matter. But it’s still stuff. People die for stuff, people stab for stuff, people shoot for stuff, and if you’ve got the right sense of humor (which considering how likable the writing and the main cast are you might not need it) there’s something truly transcendent to be found in the roots of this comedic crime story.

Macon Blair (who was already a great screenwriter) seems to have followed in the footsteps of his cohort Jeremy Saulnier in that he directs like he was born to do it. I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE may have a smart script, but it’s the direction holds that writing up respectably. There’s so many little touches of information gathering camerawork that allows for the intake of information and an exciting amount of audience engagement in the film, only nailing in what is ultimately a pretty fun tone. The following of a specific gun in the final confrontation takes that intense scene from a sense of disturbing intensity to a sense of blisteringly giddy excitement as we wait for something to happen. Blair is smart enough to know that in dealing with such dark subject matter, keeping the audience moving is a good way to keep the tone light and when his direction on this beautifully gory gun trick goes down as we’ve been waiting for it too, the results are so satisfying. Pair that with the fact that nothing is perfunctory or out of order on the sides of the film (i.e. that satisfying fullness of an early Coen Brothers film like Blood Simple) and I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE can’t help but feel like one of the most invigorating experiences of the year.

As you probably guessed too, the cast hits their marks in ways that seem almost baffling. Lynskey has always been an underused powerhouse, but here she’s sympathetic as they come and Elijah Wood gives his best performance since maybe Maniac, showing a character that is maybe as psychotic as the former but has the common sense just not to be for lack of a better word an “asshole.”  These are the only characters that could find themselves in this situation, and having been there they are better for it.

I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE is a truly special movie and even in some ways a sign of the quality that could come from the streaming companies such as Netflix and the already incredible Amazon Studios. Amazon’s release of The Neon Demon, Manchester by the Sea and Café Society may have put them on top but I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE is an excellent first step for Netflix to climb from its Adam Sandler ditch of unfunny, unclever films to present us with quality entertainment. I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE deserves to be seen and deserves to be loved. It might not have the artful importance of many works but it’s still the entertaining film of the year so far.

4.5 out of 5

I DON’T FEEL AT HOME IN THIS WORLD ANYMORE is currently playing on Netflix