Life as a House

This is a movie about one thing. Building a house. The End. WRONG. It is so much more than that. It's really about one man's struggle to find closure with his son, his ex wife, and himself most of all before he dies. He wonders where it all went wrong, and how to make amends before the end. See, George is an architect. He builds tiny models by hand in a world run by computers. This makes him expendable in a company he has been with for 20 years. When he is let go, he goes B-A-N-A-N-A-S. After he is done with his "mission", he passes out in the parking lot. He is taken for medical care where he is informed he is dying, and by his own assumptions, he has about 4 months to live. He does not tell anyone. He does however take on a task he has put on the back burner for the last 20 years. Building his dream house on his ocean front property. Not only does he want to finish what he starts, he wants his son Sam (Hayden Christensen), whom he has very little to do with, not by his choice but Sam's, to be there every step of the way. Sam is not a typical teenage boy. He is a druggie, hates everyone, and turns tricks for cash. He hates himself, and that comes out in his attitude toward everyone else. George wants his son back, and though he does not tell him he is dying, he forces him to live with him for the summer to try and figure out what went wrong with them. Like I said, this movie is deep. It just happens to revolve around new construction. Tensions between Sam and George are as high as humanly possible, but George is not going to give up on his son. There is definitely an underlying Father/Son aspect to this film. Even more than the "Closure before dying" aspect, it is about the importance of family. Something George lost sight of years earlier. With things moving along slower than expected, George's health is failing, will he accomplish what he has set out to? Not the house, but Sam? This tugged at my heart strings as a father most of all. I cannot imagine my son hating me, and having to fight within my final months to get him back. A brilliant movie that will make you a little sad, but at the same time, very happy you watched it.

NBM rates Life as a House - Phenomenal