April 14, 2005 - House of D is the feature writing and directorial debut from David Duchovny. The story is semi-autobiographical for Duchovny, who spent his own childhood in Greenwich Village, where the film is set. Duchovny used his own background as the jump-off point to tell the story of Tom Warshaw (Duchovny), an American artist living in Paris who decides to tell his French wife the story of his checkered and adventurous past. Anton Yelchin portrays the young Tommy in 1973 during his adolescence. His mother (Tea Leoni) is medicating her troubled memories away, struggling to deal with the death of her husband. Tommy works after school delivering meat with his best friend Papass (Robin Williams), a simple minded janitor at Tommy's school. When he falls for a girl in his class, he is torn between being the man of the house in his mother's crumbling life and living out his own descent to adulthood. He befriends a woman in the Woman's House of Detention, who he knows only as Lady (Erykah Badu) and looks to her for advice. She yells advice out the window of her cell, seeing the boy only through the reflection in a piece of broken glass she holds out the window. When Tommy's life comes to a crossroad, he ultimately must consult her on a decision that will impact the rest of his life.

House of D is a sweet story told from a very sentimental perspective. Duchovny has a love for the time period and its relation to his own upbringing, which serves to enhance the film's strong look and feel, complete with all those awful clothes and all that great music. On the other hand, Duchovny's affinity for the period and for the story he's telling often overwhelms the flow of an otherwise strong story, shifting to moments of inescapable tear jerking that take away from the film's impact and at times feel contrived. What results is a generally good first film, but an excessively sentimental one that teeters towards overt manipulation rather than a story told straight from the heart.

	-Lions Gate Films Tommy (Yelchin) talks Papass (Williams) into pretending to be his dad so he can get in to see Texas Chainsaw

As the young Tommy Warshaw, Anton Yelchin gives an emotional, head turning performance. He has to deal with some extremely difficult scenes for an actor or character of any age, and it's these moments where Yelchin shines the brightest. On the flip side, I also found the Tommy character to be abrasive and irritating at times. He's got a good sense of humor and he likes to make people laugh, but his one-liners get old and his character seems to sharply contrast what little we see of his adult persona portrayed by Duchovny. Some of this can be chalked up to an adolescent immaturity and some is just overplayed.

I must admit that I was put off at first by the idea of Williams portraying the mentally challenged Papass. After all, how many times have we seen an actor play a challenged individual only to constantly and desperately tug at the heart strings of the audience? I'm reminded of a Mad Magazine parody which referred to Cuba Gooding's performance in Radio as Just Give Me My Damned Oscar! I have to admit that, little by little, Robin Williams won me over. Many have forgotten what a good actor Williams is in the light of his recent string of weak material. He was very good in the little seen Final Cut last year and he's good here as well. This role gives him a chance to play drama and comedy effectively, often at the same time. There are moments where I felt that some of the things the character said seemed like they might not come out of the mouth of a mentally challenged individual, but that's more of a story critique than a critique of Williams. He's quite good and when we see Papass later in the film, the moment is strong and touching.

	-Lions Gate Films Tommy and Papass ride through Greenwich Village to deliver meat

Tea Leoni and Erykah Badu are both great in their supporting roles. Leoni shows a more vulnerable and less abrasive character than we are used to seeing from her on screen. She also has some great comedic scenes as the prying mother that many of us can likely relate to. As Leoni's character slips away, Tommy turns to Badu's Lady. For a singer-turned-actress with little experience, Badu shines. She's strong and vulnerable all at once. Her performance is one of the most memorable in the film.

All in all, it's hard to give House of D an out and out recommendation, but at the same time, it's a sweet little film. It seemed like Duchovny tried a little too hard and was occasionally trying to do too much in a single scene. To elicit one emotion from an audience is difficult enough, more than that is digging yourself a deep hole. As a director, Duchovny shows great promise. I don't want to concentrate wholly on the negative, because there is certainly a lot that Duchovny does right with this film. It's a strong debut and it will be interesting to see how he might hone his skills should he choose to step behind the lens again. It would be a shame if he didn't.

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