Under Perelman’s yoke, Connelly and Kingsley pull the film, and both deliver laudable performances. Mix in a local cop (Eldard) and Behrani’s gentlewoman wife (Aghdashloo, a frequent collaborator of Abbas Kiarostami), and the situation simmers to a rolling boil. A former colonel in the Shah’s army, he’s like royalty without a kingdom. ![]() ![]() Behrani is hardworking and intelligent, but he’s also proud and stubborn. Kathy is honest and well-meaning, but she’s disorganized and vulnerable, a barely recovered addict and a near recluse. Behrani (Kingsley) is the Iranian immigrant who buys the property in a public auction, outfits it with a widow’s watch, and plans to resell it for his son’s college tuition. Kathy (Connelly) is a housecleaner who’s inherited a California bungalow with a tax problem. These are simple but compelling films about people who get in over their heads, who make poor choices consistent with their human flaws and suffer the consequences. In both films the drama emerges organically from the characters, not the reverse. In its singularity and matter-of-fact depiction of adult lives and problems, it reminded me of Lantana, an Australian sleeper from 2001. It’s not an issues film, though it evokes matters of institutional racism and power, corruption, and cultural assimilation. It’s not a family drama, though much is made of intergenerational relationships and the dreams parents have for their children. ![]() It’s not a romance, though people come together ardently, with the fervor of addicts. It’s not a thriller, though the plot marches gravely forward with a sense of inexorable doom. It’s also unlike anything else you’re likely to see in the multiplex this holiday season: A star vehicle with a studio pedigree that is stubbornly uncommercial, emotionally raw, and hard to classify. This moody screen adaptation of the Oprah-endorsed eponymous bestseller by Andre Dubus III's isn’t a slam-dunk success, but it has plenty of sleeper potential and is a feather in the cap of director Perelman, a Russian émigré who debuts here as a feature filmmaker after a career in commercials.
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