Director Vadim Perelman has constructed a film of dashed hopes and human errors amid beautiful scenery and fantastically understated acting. Kathy Niccoli (Jennifer Connelly) is three years into `recovery' but is still too lazy to get out of bed or to open her mail. What results is the ignored tax notice, which causes her to lose her house. Colonel Behrani, his wife Nadi (a fantastic Shoreh Aghdashloo) and their teenage son are eking out a living with menial jobs after the high ranking Colonel gets ousted from Iran. Seeing this as a great opportunity, the Colonel buys the house and settles in for the American dream. His troubled past seems behind him. Kathy meanwhile encounters a love struck policeman with his own family troubles who offers to help her win her house back. The tensions start to rise and we soon realize this is going to possibility be a stalemate at best. With five people trying to save their lives and their loved ones, there can only be losers and that is what Director Perelman gives us. You can take all the best acting in the world, but the end result of this film is fives lives more than ruined simply by the lazy selfishness of one recovering drug addict. It's Shakespearean in tone and ends on an unexpected note of pathetic hopelessness. It is still worth the viewing, believe it or not.