House of D

A lot of people seem to really hate House of D, David Duchovny's writing and directing debut from last year. I didn't. The movie tells the story of Tommy Warshaw (Anton Yelchin and David Duchovny), a 13-year-old boy in New York City in the early 70's. He's got a depressed widow for a mom (Tea Leoni, who I love), a mentally handicapped best friend Pappass (Robin Williams), and a job delivering meat for a French butcher shop owner. The story is told from the adult Tommy's perspective, as he explains to his French wife the secret of his childhood. He wants to connect with his own 13-year-old boy, and so he decides it's time to tell his secret. I'll admit, House of D is a little over the top on occasion. The last scene between Tommy and his mother is a bit, well, melodramatic. It seems like a device to make us sadder. However, the rest of the story is more authentic. Tommy is on the verge of growing up, leaving behind both his best friend, who will never seem any older than 12, and his mother, who will never recover from the losses in her life. He takes comfort and advice from an imprisoned woman he only knows as Lady, played by Erykah Badu. They never see one another, but they shout their conversations from the street to the upper level window of the Women's House of Detention, which once stood in the middle of a busy part of town. I found the opening monologue a bit wordy and pretentious, but the rest of the film was worth seeing. Tommy's growing-up story is sad and sweet, and I thought there were a lot of neat elements, like his relationship with another girl, with Pappass, and with his mother. Before this, the underrated David Duchovny had written and directed only episodes of The X-Files. Obviously, The X-Files was an incredible show, but I wouldn't say that he directed any of the best episodes. However, anyone who spent so much time with one character (like he did with Mulder) probably has a good idea of how to make a character real and empathetic, and that's what he did with Tommy and Lady. I'd say, ignore Rotten Tomatoes and their 11% rating, and go rent House of D.