review by Timothy Amburgey
Life as a House 2001 ★★★★★
Reviewed Apr 27, 2012
This review reportedly contains spoilers.
I can handle the truth.
Timothy Amburgey said:
This is the movie that made me fall in love with Hayden Christensen's acting, originally. It's a touching story that is enough to bring tears to even the most jaded movie-goer's eyes. Granted, it is a tad melodramatic; but when you get past that, It really is such an amazing movie.
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George Monroe is a lonely and sad man. Divorced for ten years, he lives alone on the Southern California coast with his pet dog in the same run down shack he has lived in for twenty-five years, the shack which his father passed down to him. In the intervening years, ostentatious houses have sprung up around him. He's been at the same architectural firm for twenty years in a job he hates, which primarily consists of building scale models. On the day that he is fired from his job, he is diagnosed with an advanced case of terminal cancer, which he chooses not to disclose to his family. In many ways, this day is the happiest of his recent life in that he decides to spend what little time he has left doing what he really wants to do, namely build a house he can call his own to replace the shack. He also wants his rebellious sixteen year old son, Sam Monroe, to live with him for the summer.
- House
- Cancer
- Construction
- House Construction
- Neighbor
- Dog
- Homosexual
- Christmas Lights
- Home Renovation
- Flashback
- Teen Rebel
- Pool
- Urination
- Jigsaw Puzzle
- Suburbia
- Chess
- Garage
- Marriage
- Architectural Model
- Train
- Exposed Toilet
- Yelling
- Teenage Girl
- Male Prostitute
- Redemption
- Ambulance
- Father Son Relationship
- Mother Son Relationship
- Reflective
- Ocean
- Depression
- Watching TV
- Slow Motion Scene
- Masturbation
- Mother Daughter Relationship
- Black Lingerie
- Husband Wife Relationship
- Diving Off A Cliff
- Shower
- Wheelchair
- Briefs
- Architect
- Computer
- Apology
- Body Piercing
- Ladder
- Bare Breasts
- Death
- Falling From Height
- House Building
- Summer Vacation
- Haunted By The Past
- Penis
- Underwear
- Drug Use
- Car
- Sunscreen
- Orgasm
- Teen
- Tadpoling
- Videotaping
- Atonement
- Family Relationships
- Food
- Spoiled Child
- Rain
- Estranged Father
- Sex
- Cul De Sac
- Cell Phone
- Police Car
- Injury
- Cannabis
- Obscene Finger Gesture
- Male Female Relationship
- Police
- Anger
- Dream House
- Watching A Video
- Eye Makeup
- Female Nudity
- Teenager
- Hospital
- Falling Off A Roof
- Indecent Exposure
- Terminal Illness
- Jumping Off A Cliff
- Teenage Boy
- High School
- Marijuana
- Brother Brother Relationship
- Policeman
- Home Demolition
- Fired From The Job
- Memory
- Eating
- Vicodin
- Video Camera
- Dancer
- Nudity
- Ejaculation
- Gay
- Mortise And Tendon
- Home Building
- Obsession
- Teen Angst
- Dancing
- Midlife Crisis
- Nurse
- Huffing
- Piercing
- Dying
- Beach
- Reconciliation
- Gay Slur
- Earphones
- Gothic
- Dysfunctional Family
- Garage Apartment
- Chainsaw
- Autoerotic Asphyxiation
- Divorce
Comment?