NFA: No Fixed Abode

There’s no mistaking the commitment and compassion behind this no-budget British drama about a comfortable middle-class man who inexplicably wakes up one morning in a homeless shelter. But it’s impossible to ignore the film’s amateurish technique and awkward, unconvincing tone. Patrick Baladi is bland in the lead role of Adam, the bourgeois dad struggling to come to terms with his new reality. Writer-director Steve Rainbow is clearly more interested in politics than story – the film’s only real moment of confrontation happens offscreen, and there’s no attempt to mine the potentially juicy ‘Twilight Zone’-ish setup for either dramatic tension or emotional resonance. It’s not a complete washout – there’s a powerful fireside scene featuring a knockout turn from TV veteran David Sterne, and the ending is surprisingly poignant. But there’s nothing here that couldn’t have been said with more clarity and immediacy in a good short doc, or even a nice informative pamphlet.