It's been six-and-a-half years since Amina and Sarah Said were gunned down in their father's taxi cab outside an Irving hotel. Yaser Said, the girls' father and prime suspect in their murders, has been on the run ever since.
The net may finally be tightening around him, though. In addition to increased FBI attention, Yaser is the subject of a new documentary The Price of Honor, which premieres at Lakewood Theater on September 7.
Directed by Neena Nejad and Xoel Pamos, the documentary explores the idea that Yaser murdered his daughters in a so-called "honor killing." It also examines the theory that he could be hiding out in the U.S., not his native Egypt.
Citing the ongoing investigation, Irving Police have refused repeated requests to release even a basic police report on the Said sisters' deaths. So Nejad and Pamos took matters into their own hands and conducted a private investigation over the course of three years.
They interviewed the girls' relatives and known associates of Yaser. Nejad and Pamos uncovered evidence that Yaser may have committed another murder in Egypt and that he sexually abused his daughters.
"As we got into this, we realized there was so much more to the story than the media knew or the FBI knew," Nejad says.
Tickets are $12 for general admission and $25 for VIP. Both tickets include access to a Q&A after the screening.
Screenwriter Derek Kolstad, who wrote the first three John Wickmovies, has essentially had a blank check to do what he wants in the movie landscape since 2014. In recent years that has meant writing the action series Nobody for Bob Odenkirk, who has turned from a comedian into an unlikely action star in his sixties. Kolstad and Odenkirk are teaming up again in Normal.
A film that tries to evoke Fargo in multiple ways, Normal finds Ulysses Richardson (Odenkirk) serving as a temporary sheriff for the small town of Normal, Minnesota after the previous sheriff died. Knowing he’s just a steward until a new sheriff is elected, Ulysses takes a live-and-let-live approach to the job, letting the deputies (Ryan Allen and Billy MacLellan) do the grunt work and trying to stay out of everyone’s way, including Mayor Kibner (Henry Winkler).
A bank robbery attempt by two non-citizens upsets his best-laid plans in more ways than he can imagine. Not only is he forced to confront a crime not often seen in a town like Normal, but the robbery uncovers secrets that turn the film into an all-out bloodbath. Soon, almost everyone in town becomes involved in what comes to resemble a war, along with — you guessed it — Yakuza henchmen from Japan.
Directed by Ben Wheatley and written by Kolstad, the film is a slight twist on the everyman-turned-hero character Odenkirk played in the two Nobody films. While Ulysses is in law enforcement, he prefers to use words instead of weapons, and it’s only when he’s pushed to the brink that he crosses that line. Naturally, his skills are beyond what anyone would expect of him, allowing him to match up well with people half his age.
The film is not a comedy in the traditional sense, but instead aims for laughs by catching the audience off-guard with its ultraviolence. Some characters are dispatched in shockingly unexpected ways, with one of the only natural reactions to the jarring nature of their deaths being laughter. That’s not necessarily the case for other killings, which range from blasé to sadistic, and the only reason they count as entertainment is because the filmmakers have primed the audience to accept them as such.
After a relatively solid setup, where Wheatley and Kolstad seem to take their time getting to know the main characters, the second half of the film is pure action that dispenses with good storytelling. Like many action movies, there are double crosses, surprise revelations, and more, but the filmmakers don’t seem to care about making sense of any character arcs. All they care about is delivering mayhem, and they succeed on that front.
Odenkirk has perfected the mild-yet-intimidating nature of his action characters, and it is satisfying to see him get the better of those who have done him wrong. He doesn’t run or jump like fellow 63-year-old Tom Cruise, but — with the help of fast-paced editing — he still makes for a credible action hero. The only other actors of any note in the film are Winkler, who’s a nice presence with his sardonic personality, and Lena Headey, whose small role doesn't match up with her experience.
You have to have a certain mindset to enjoy a film like Normal, but if you can abide its over-the-top bloodiness, it’s a serviceable action film. Few would have expected Odenkirk to take on these kinds of roles at this late stage of his career, but he’s making the most of his opportunities.
