This Is Our Home (4/5) – Movie Review

THIS IS OUR HOME is a low-budget psychological thriller that works incredibly well in many surprising ways. I never know what to expect from low-budget movies but I’m often pleasantly surprised. This is one of those times. Read more in our This Is Our Home review here!

This Is Our Home is a low-budget psychological thriller. From the very beginning, the style is surprisingly bold and should grab your attention. It doesn’t use easy methods or forced effects. Instead, it’s a characters based movie with a very interesting plot. 

However, there is one small detail that I suspect some will find irritating; The ending is quite open which isn’t really for everyone. It does fit the style of this thriller, so I can’t be too upset about it.

Continue reading our This Is Our Home review below.

Lead actors as producers

The two lead actors in This Is Our Home both deliver very intense and impressive performances. Jeff Ayars plays Cory while Simone Policano plays Reina. According to IMDb trivia, the movie is actually shot it Simone’s own house. Also, both actors are producers on this movie, which just adds to this production being a work of passion from everyone involved. 

I saw another reviewer mention that the lead characters seemed unlikable which I can’t relate to at all. Actually, I can relate to the man, Cory, being unlikable because he clearly is. The woman, Reina, is someone who is hurting and struggling. Also, she definitely was not unlikable to me.

The is an intensity to this story, which is increased perfectly by a very rough and bold form of shooting and cutting the movie. There are cuts in the middle of arguments which feel perfect to me, because the audience already understands that this is just yet another of the usual fights this couple has. It goes nowhere and so the scene might as well stop.

It’s brave, bold and actually kind of brilliant!

The ending of This Is Our Home 

As mentioned in the beginning of this review This Is Our Home ends in a very open way. I’m not going to spoil the ending and I won’t do a whole “This Is Our Home ending explained” bit here. 

What I will do is offer a suggestion as to how you might view the ending of This Is Our Home. Okay, that might be a minor spoiler so feel free to skip to the next paragraph section of this review.

The child, Zeke, that seems to appear out of nowhere could be viewed as a physical manifestation of all their own issues. Or rather, their depression and desperation. After all, Zeke seems to know all about the secrets and hang-ups his two “parents” have. As such, the ending might make a bit more sense to you even if it ends on an open note.

Watch This Is Our Home on DVD and Digital

This low-budget thriller has a runtime of just 1 hour and 13 minutes which is perfect. It has a tight story and the editing is both elegant and brutal – a weird combination that works like a charm with this plot. The movie was directed by Omri Dorani who has done mostly short films in the past.

After watching This Is Our Home, I’m already excited for whatever comes next from Omri Dorani.

The script was written by Rob Harmon (or Robert Harmon) who has written a lot of short film scripts in the past. Including one by Omri Dorani called Some Terrible Beast from 2015. It seems like the teamwork between these two is something else, so I certainly hope they’ll continue working together.

If you enjoy watching movies that might challenge and surprise you with their way of telling a story, then This Is Our Home is the kind of movie you should check out.

This is our Home will be out on DVD and digital December 3, 2019.

Details

Director: Omri Dorani
Writer: Rob Harmon
Stars: Simone Policano, Jeff Ayars, Drew Beckas, Riggsby Lane, Omer Rosen

Plot

A struggling couple’s weekend getaway goes awry when a child arrives in the middle of the night claiming to be their son.