A stiff-necked Iranian exile (the superb Ben Kingsley) acquires his American dream house at auction. Its careless former owner (Jennifer Connolly) understands that what he did may be legal, but is morally wrong. Out of this seemingly unpromising real-estate wrangle, first-time writer-director Vadim Perelman (working from the novel by Andre Dubus III) has created a tense and ultimately devastating cross-cultural tragedy.
Epic times call for epic art, and nothing moved us more than The Return of the King. Other things we loved: Louis Vuitton, William Boyd and BBC's The Office And to the Atlanta group OutKast, we say "Stank you very much!"