haunted_lady *spoiler alert* This is a gem of a little film. Offbeat and really unpredictable it is a must see for you indie film lovers. I sadly cannot seem to get it on Netflix. It contains slice of life interviews with the people who inhabit the first "ticky tacky houses" ( housing development) in New Jersey the people are quite interesting as well as a few famous ones who lived in this subdivision at one point. I have never forgotten this film and I have watched so many do your best to find it it will stick with you :)The character who keeps finding pennies appearing in her home is the one who haunts me most. They say this is a mockumentary but I don't know I don't think it was these people were not being spoofed.

alomba1328 Re: Zen Bones' commentary about Levittown being a "segregated" community with "no blacks, Asians, gays, Hispanics or Arabs" living in it: While Levittown was initially conceived as a segregated development, much has changed in fifty years. This town is now a culturally diverse community. Many Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians, and Arabs make their home here (visit one of Levittown's three high schools and see for yourself.) It is also important to note that this "isolated, limited, small town community" is 20 minutes from the New York City line and 40 minutes from Manhattan. There are four large universities within a 10 mile radius, one of which boasts a major metropolitan law school. It is five minutes from Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, which is the Long Island equivalent to Madison Square Garden. It is a shame that the film chose to portray Levittown as a culturally dead hick town that has never heard of the civil rights movement.

Zen Bones I think this is a delightful documentary that brings together all of the elements of the best and worst of small town communities, in this case, Levittown, U.S.A. Like many of Errol Morris' documentaries, this film focuses on the eccentricities of `normal' people to the point where that very phrase `normal' becomes meaningless. There's no such thing as normal! I suppose different people will view some of the people in this film negatively, but that is where the viewers are coming from, not the filmmakers. It's all a matter of personal perception. It takes all kinds to make a world, and I personally felt this film celebrated that, whether I agreed with the points of views of the people who were featured, or related to any of their `eccentricities'. To me, some people's lives seemed a bit bland, but then I remembered that prior to the war, many of them lived in big cities with sub-standard housing and they had none of the creature comforts that we all take for granted today. Still, I've always wondered why the communities that display the highest percentage of American flags are segregated communities. Is that really the American dream for so many people? Someone in this documentary mentioned that there were Asians in Levittown but I didn't see any in this film. Nor was there any mention of the fact that there were/are no African-Americans, Hispanics, Gay people or God forbid (!) Arab-Americans in Levittown, although it's obvious to anyone with eyes. What any segregated (intentional or otherwise) community produces is a community that is pretty limited. But that is America, like it or not. Most people don't know or even want to know what lies beyond the confines of their community. America is one big country filled with various small town mentalities. I don't think that's entirely a bad thing. Small towns are often great. I live in a big city where people rarely live in one place more than two or three years and almost never get to know their neighbours, much less ever become close friends with them. People in small towns are generally kinder to their neighbours since they know that they'll be seeing a lot of them over the years. And the feeling of a community is a wonderful thing. But this documentary does show in parts how living in a generic society with one common but very limited experience of the world can be quite suffocating, mentally and emotionally. Multiply that by thousands of communities across the country and one can see where it can even be a dangerous thing. The best thing about this film is that it shows that it is our eccentricities, hobbies and even occasional delusions that keep us healthy. It illustrates how this country is strong not because of how generic or patriotic it is, but because of the warmth and imagination of its people. What's wrong with someone who collects kitschy illustrated plates, or fancies that their house is haunted? I can judge for myself that it's not anything I can relate to, but who am I to judge others? It's documentaries like this that can really make us see ourselves much better in how we look at and judge others. To me, an ideal community (and what this wonderful melting pot of a country we live in is all about) would be Levittown with people of all races and walks of life living together peacefully. Add a few nice restaurants, a great museum, a few terrific cinemas, DVD stores, and bookstores, and that would be paradise to me. In the meantime, I can appreciate the rich experience this film gave me in broadening my view of America.

fliphop he goes around this womans house .. she obviously has some kinda mental problem and he edits it to make fun of her "i dont drop knives" (cut to her dropping a knife) .. cold man, real cold. another deal is the whole VFW thing.. theres a reason those people act like they do.. its because they saw their friends bodies ripped apart by explosions and bullets in some far off place theyd never heard of..... they heard them scream while their blood ran cold.. youd probably develop a few rituals if it happened to you.. it seems like this movie is just about crap that maybe looks funny from outside, fine for a laugh, but...where are the deeper stories behind these people.. like Chinua Achebe might say.. despair and hopelessness comes from being cut off from who you are.. the why and the how of your past.. so.. what does this movie give the children of levittown? "i come from a long line of elvis plate collectors"? there is more to these people than plate collecting but the movie leaves it all out.. that dog walking guy is pretty funny though.