a thunderhead of suspense." Holden concluded that the film's subject matter has become relevant again in wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks and anti-Muslim sentiment. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 3 out of 4 stars and wrote the film is an effective parable about xenophobia because it "doesn't reach for reality; it's a deliberate attempt to look and feel like a 1940s social problems picture, right down to the texture of the color photography." Criticisms were directed towards the film's "didacticism", the story's implausibilities and its "heavy-handed" messaging, in addition to the casting of Macy and Dern as characters who appear to be Jewish. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly said the film was miscast and wrote, "The movie...has a topsy-turvy sense of injustice. Its central outrage isn’t anti-Semitism, really, but the far more banal fact that Macy and Dern have to endure the inconvenience of being scorned for what they’re not." In her review for The Austin Chronicle, Marjorie Baumgarten touched on these points, but concluded, "Still, [the] performances, the story's historical origins, and the inherent goodness and contemporaneity of its storyline make Focus a movie worth viewing." Accolades Chicago International Film Festival New Directors Competition - Neal Slavin (nominated) Ghent International Film Festival Grand Prix - Neal Slavin (nominated) Golden Reel Awards Best Sound Editing - Music - Feature Film, Domestic and Foreign - Joanie Diener (nominated) Karlovy Vary International Film Festival Best Actor - William H. Macy (won) Grand Prix - Neal Slavin (nominated) Political Film Society Award for Human Rights (won) See also Antisemitism in the United States History of antisemitism in the United States References External links 2001 films 2001 independent films 2001 drama films American drama films 2001 directorial debut films Antisemitism in the United States 2000s English-language films Films about antisemitism Films based on American novels Films set in Brooklyn Films set in the 1940s Films set on the home front during World War II Films shot in Toronto Paramount Vantage films 2000s American films