Independent director Ramin Bahrani (Man Push Cart, Chop Shop and Goodbye Solo) is something of a film festival darling. At Any Price, his fourth film, premiered at the 69th Venice International Film Festival and was nominated for the Golden Lion Award. This film examines the relationship between a father and son, where the father wants his son to take over the family farm while his son wishes to become a race car driver.

Ambitious farmer Henry Whipple (Dennis Quaid) inherits his father’s corn farm and ruthlessly expands his estate to keep up with the competition. Henry’s plans for his agro-empire rest on the shoulders of his sons, who he expects to take over the farm one day. But when it becomes clear that his first son, Grant, is unlikely to take over, his second son, Dean (Zac Efron) is left to shoulder that responsibility. Dean’s relationship with his father grows tense due to Dean’s dream of becoming a professional race car driver and his belief that Henry likes Grant better.

You’d then expect the story show Dean coming to better understand his father’s ambitions through a series of incidents that would convince him of how noble a farmer’s way of life is. But At Any Price actually depicts American agro-business as a cut throat, expand-or-die industry, making the conflict more nuanced than your average Hollywood film.
The film not only touches on the issue of the American dream, but also on generational conflicts. Unfortunately, the dramatic tension is undermined by Dean’s sheer lack of likeability. Dean and his brother come across as irrational, childish and irresponsible. Henry is left to clean up after his sons, whose selfishness isn’t really balanced out by any other redeeming qualities.

Despite great acting and cinematography, we were unable to connect with the characters. Open-ended stories and muddled morals are fine, but when it’s unclear what the director is getting at, it’s not just the characters but the audience too who ends up feeling a bit lost.