The House of Tomorrow is an unusual coming-of-age film about two rebellious Minnesota teenagers who form a punk rock duo. One, played by Asa Butterfield (The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, Hugo), is a naïve kid who was home schooled in Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller’s domed house of tomorrow by his former hippie grandmother, played by Ellen Burstyn. The other, played by Alex Wolff (The Naked Brothers Band), is a more worldly-wise youth recovering from a recent heart transplant. They meet when Wolff, his father (Nick Offerman), and sister (Maude Apatow) are part of a group touring Burstyn and Butterfield’s unique home.

First-time director Peter Livolsi wanted the best for his film, so he figured he’d start at the top and work his way down. He sent the script to Burstyn, not sure she’d accept, and not having the faintest notion that she had known “Bucky.” It turns out she had attended one of his lectures while she was filming The Exorcist and flew to Chicago to interview him during a five-hour stopover at O’Hare. They became friends and she has the home movies to prove it. She not only leaped at the chance to make the film but provided a delightful home movie of her and “Bucky” riding in a car.

Burstyn and Offerman are quite good in their roles, but the film belongs to the three young actors. Apatow, the daughter of Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, grew up with Wolff and the two make a very believable brother and sister. Britisher Buttterfield, as he proved with The Space Between Us, does an American regional accent flawlessly.

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