House of America

Three siblings grow up together with their mother in a mining town in Wales. Some time ago the father of the family left them, and ran off to America. He is now working at a car factory, the mother claims. The daughter Gwenny writes faithfully to her father every week, and is called Miss America at the local post office since constantly asks if she's gotten any letters from the other side of the Atlantic which she never has.
There is a game going on between Sid and Gwenny that borders on incest. They pretend to be the writer Jack Kerouac and his girlfriend, Joyce Johnson. They graciously invite their brother Boyo to play Allen Ginsberg, the poet who wrote ”Howl”, but he turns them down.
Sid's world collapses when his mother sets fire to his Harley Davidson, which was had been a symbol for America, freedom, and Jack Kerouac. The USA, paradise, mirages - that's where their father is, and where the rest of the family should be. Sid ends up there in the end, and meets his father.
Music by John Cale puts the characters in their proper time and setting. The mother is accompanied by music from Tom Jones (born in Wales, of course), and Velvet Underground is the background music for the father. Blur, Primal Scream, Teenage Fanclub, Dubstar and other popular bands from that time are can also be heard. The music plays an important part, as the modern viewer otherwise feels a bit cut off from the mining environment, and the sibling's longing for American beatnik culture. Thus, we are allowed that much closer to their world, and this increases our ability to empathize with the family.
Helena Hederberg

Premiärstatus
Nordisk premiär: Medverkande
Sian Phillips, Steven Mackintosh, Matthew Rhys: Producent
Sheryl Crown: Manus
Edward Thomas: Foto
Pierre Aïm: Musik
John Cale: Talat språk
Welsh, English