We Used to Own Houses
2023 · 7m · Australia
Directed by David Robinson-Smith
Tones: contemplative, dark, surreal, tense
A determined renter breaks into his landlord's home and forces him to read cryptic verses that unravel the exploitative truths of a broken housing system, blending a tense confrontation with surreal dream sequences.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Tenant breaks into landlord's house, forces him to read prog-black-metal lyrics about the housing crisis. Seven minutes of anti-capitalist anger filtered through Ashenspire — yes, finally a political short with actual texture.
Robinson-Smith setting Glaswegian prog-black-metal lyrics from Ashenspire into a tenant-landlord home-invasion sequence is one of the most genuinely strange formal decisions I've encountered this batch. Seven minutes of poetic anti-capitalist confrontation; an act of curatorial nerve.
Weaving Ashenspire's anti-capitalist black-metal lyrics into a confrontation between tenant and landlord is a specific source-text choice that gives the politics a voice the film can quote rather than write. 6:49 and 24K views; dream sequences and lyrical structure earn the tightness.
Reviews
Robinson-Smith captures sentiments about the housing crisis in a surprisingly poetic tale of greed and revenge.
With a style that is distinct, unique, and adaptable, he's a director you could easily see working across commercials, music videos, television and features.
Festivals
- Melbourne International Film Festival 2023
- SXSW Sydney 2023
- CICLOPE Asia 2024, Best Short Film