The House of Adam

I've been a champion of independent films for years. I liked this film it so much I felt the need to comment on it. I read the reviews on this site and notice most have different reason why they liked or dislike the film. First, I must say taking into consideration this was probably done on a modest budget, the production values are okay. The cinematography is very good. Now to the story. I found it to be well written and original. The writing is strong and to the point. The lead characters are well fleshed out. It has several moving moments that probably works well enough to squeeze a tear or two out of the viewer. The acting of the females in this picture was not the best, as a matter a fact, I thought it was pretty raw, but passable. The main actors were very good. I can see them going on to do great things, specially the guy that plays Antony. He had a natural yet striking presence. He has lead written all over and he commands attention. This is one of those film that has so many genres mixed in it, you are better off sitting back and going for the ride.

Hi guys, this is my first review and I would had to have picked the worst movie to review. As I only watched 5 minutes of it but trust me you could see this movie was going nowhere. The acting was deplorable, the camera work and lighting looked as though it was shot and run by a pack of 10 year old's. No offence to 10 year olds.I just couldn't take anymore I got off my couch, took the The House of Adam DVD out of the DVD player and threw it in the garbage. Maybe if you are a Colin Farrell fan this movie may interest you, because the character in the movie, Anthony, is a Colin Farrell look a like. But that is as far as it goes, he certainly will never have col's acting abilities. I gave this movie a rating of 1 (awful) only because there were no minuses in the drop down list cheers.

This film was presented as the centerpiece film at Reelpride this past Saturday at the Cinema D'or. First, I must comment on the projection. From the beginning the sound and image were awful!!!. I left the auditorium within minutes of the film's beginning to complain about the sound. The sound was really bad!. That is when I was told that the speakers in the theatre had blown out. The sound was so distorted, I was hard to hear what was happening. Every time the sound peaked in the movie it got distorted. This is something, also with the projection, that I will blame the festival for. There were other films that I saw earlier at the festival that had the same type of sound problem. By the time I saw this one, It was hard to understand anything. Anyways, back to the film. The film was fabulous. The director is very insightful. I really enjoyed the directors tongue in cheek dark humor that you don't usually see in a thriller...Even though I would refer to this film as more of a drama with thriller elements towards the end. The tongue in cheek humor I found it in the irony of what was happening when the wife is telling the detective who previously lived at the cabin she now owns what happened to the previous cabin owners not knowing she was taking care of him...very clever! Also, I thought it was a riot when the wife hits the detective with her car and tells her husband she must call him back. There was a sassy campiness to the film that gave this thriller a certain light edge to it even though I found the material to be heavy. I liked the actors (Antony and Adam actors). The writing was quick and witty. The nina character in the film was very annoying. She was so annoying it's not too difficult to comprehend why her husband would leave her for another man. Since the projection of the image and sound were so poor (it was projected digitally) it was hard to tell how good, or not so good, were the production values. I liked the story a lot. It was very entertaining. The filmmaker should continue with this style of film-making. I like it. He deals with some very heavy subject matter here but handles it in a way (dark comedic tongue in cheek) that you can't help to laugh at the absurdity of situations some people put themselves into in real life. I applaud the filmmaker for that and look forward to seeing more of his work.

Notwithstanding that "The House of Adam" is meant to be a mainstream gay movie; that Anthony (John Shaw), who is gay curious and a major cutie-hunk and Adam (Jared Cadwell) who is openly gay, and a close second in looks; that there is a whole minute of wonderful, convincing, and naked lovemaking (sorry, no frontal) between Anthony and Adam 41 minutes into the movie (that alone may be sufficient for many of us) --- notwithstanding all that (to which I give a thumbs up), "The House of Adam" is a horrible movie by most any other movie making standard. A big thumbs down.

Shaw's and Cadwell's acting abilities are either sophomoric or else truly suffer from the bad script, direction, and editing, or rather the lack thereof. Their lovemaking scene is nevertheless convincing, and may have more to do with their really being into each other, considering the rest of their scripting and acting.

Writer-director Jorge Amer's (Bonus Feature) self-congratulation as to his movie making skills is off the wall.

So, the script and lack thereof is a thumbs down. Overall, the acting is thumbs down with just the slightest exception for Shaw and Cadwell. Alexis Karriker as Nina might have been the best except for the limitations expressed above. Far and away the absolute worst, and insufferable, acting was by Thomas Michael Kappier as Albert Ross, Anthony's father having not even of elementary school acting quality. He truly represents a colossal casting failure.

The actors playing the new cabin owners are worthy of truly bad acting nominations as well.

If only the production, editing and post production were as good as the trailer, this movie would have been quite something else. The trailer presents well put together clips of scenes that drew me into renting the movie in the first place. That, and the hope that this gay-centered movie, was supposedly prominently played and touted at gay film festivals.

Overall, the movie is a big thumbs down.

Is it worth buying/renting and watching it? Only if you have an irresistible yen to see the naked love making scene, and a few minutes of semi-convincing dialogue between Anthony and Adam. Or if you truly just enjoy watching bad movies.

I have seen The House of Adam a couple of times, and thoroughly enjoyed the film. The Star of this film, is a dead ringer for a young version of Colin Farrel, extremely sexy, and totally believable in his character. I do not understand those that would give this film a "low rating." It is known that at times, competitive Producers will use this tactic to "bang" someone else's work, and I think this is unfair, as well as unprofessional. This work should be admired for what it is, a fine film with a very "HOT!" new face in Hollywood. The world of Independent films is a tough enough road, without others trying to berate a good production. I would recommend this film to anyone, and I look forward to the release on Home Video DVD!